Sixteenth International Conference of Telemedicine Society of India: Experiences and Lessons Learnt for Evolving Transformation at a Global Level

Author: Amar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street # 32–256, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Editor-in-Chief, Telehealth and Medicine Today, Cambridge, USA

This issue of Telehealth and Medicine Today includes nine papers that are peer-reviewed and enhanced versions of a subset of papers presented at the 16th International Conference of Telemedicine Society of India, held in December 2020.

A common theme in several of these papers is that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has acted as a catalyst for telemedicine and a dominant power to overcome forces that inhibit change (Machiavellian forces). Telemedicine has become an accepted mode of health care across diverse medical specialties in India, and this rapid transformation could not have been predicted by anybody at the beginning of 2020.

A major global or regional crisis serves as a strong catalyst to drive innovation, change, and improvement. As the end of 1999 approached, the end of the millennium required changing all specifications for the year from the abbreviated 2 digit mode on computers to the 4 digit mode. The Year 2000 Problem (Y2K) resulted in the globalization of financial and other major industries, and further led to a significant demand globally for information technology services and specialists from India. As healthcare and financial industries have many similarities in terms of costs, security, privacy, turnaround time, quality, and safety, I strongly believe that India will play a growing role in fostering a new global, telemedicine ecosystem.

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https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v6.268

Originally published at https://telehealthandmedicinetoday.com.