Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020

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The Government of India introduced the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines ("Guidelines") on 25th March 2020. These guidelines are prepared by the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India along with the National Institution for Transforming India. The benefit of providing telemedicine is that it is cost-effective and efficient for rural people who have to walk great distances to get to a hospital/clinic.

These guidelines are framed under Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 ("1956 Act") which has been repealed and has been replaced with National Medical Commission Act, 2019 ("2019 Act"). Section 61(2) of the 2019 Act states that irrespective of the repealing of the 1956 Act, these guidelines will still be in force unless the Indian Government enforces new guidelines which supersede the existing guidelines. These guidelines are applicable to every Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) whose name is mentioned in the State Medical Register or Indian Medical Register. 

The purpose of these guidelines is to train the doctors to encourage them to practice telemedicine as part of their usual practice. These guidelines will guide the RMPs to be of sound judgment while providing proper medical services to patients on the basis of patient's medical records and other relevant information. The guidelines talk about providing online medical consultation through audio or video call to any patient from all over India. These guidelines describe how and when consultation can be done by the RMPs for the convenience of the patient. It also talks about how transmission of voice and data can be used along with other clinical standards, policies, procedures, and protocols for providing medical care.

Even though these guidelines have their advantages they do have their drawbacks as well. For a proper video and audio call, the internet connection has to be really good which is not always possible. Also, the technology used for telemedicine can be abused or misused. All these risks and drawbacks can be mitigated through proper training and resources and enforcement of medical standards and protocols.

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