For every radiologist in India, there are 120,000 patients to care for.

GE Healthcare and Teleradiology Solutions have partnered in an attempt to help close this gap.

“Shortage of qualified medical professionals, including radiologists is emerging as one of the biggest impediments to growth and access to quality health care in India,” Milan Rao, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, India and South Asia, said in a statement.
Through the partnership, TRS’ RadSpa radiology workflow solution will be offered to GE customers in India. A trained technologist on site performs the imaging exam and a specialized radiologist based in one of TRS’ locations provides interpretation and reporting in real time.

The customer’s medical device or PACS can be easily configured to communicate with RadSpa, so images and data can be exchanged with the reporting radiologist at the teleradiology center. The images are received within minutes and reporting turnaround ranges from 60 minutes to 24 hours, based on the service level agreement.

A shortage of radiologists is only part of the issue — there is also a lack of skilled radiology technicians. A study from the Public Health Foundation of India found that the health care skill gap in India is about 98 percent, and radiology accounts for 88.7 percent of this gap alone.

The GE Healthcare Education Institute offers programs for radiology technicians to help them upgrade their skills to meet the changing demands in the health care field. TRS also provides support to their customers to ensure the technicians can conduct the scans in a way that facilitates the best possible reporting from the remote radiologist.

Health IT Homepage