Finnish x-rays could soon be analysed in India

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X-ray pictures of many Finnish patients could soon be analysed by experts in India. If plans come to fruition, the pictures would be sent in electronic form to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) where radiologists would analyse them within a day.
     Actual treatment would be prescribed by the patient's doctor in Finland.
     The idea for the India bridge comes from the Seinäjoki-based company LifeIT Medical, whose computer servers would receive the images sent electronically from Finnish health clinics and hospitals.
     Analysing the pictures on computer screens in Kolkata are doctors working for Focus Research & Development.
     The scheme is the first in which Finland buys medical services from India.
     No Finnish hospitals or health clinics have yet signed up for the Indian service, but negotiations are under way with many different parties, says LifeIT CEO Teemu Paavola.
     The largest owner of LifeIT is the Health Care District of South Ostrobothnia, but the company offers its services to others as well.
     "There are places around the country were there is a big shortage of radiologists", Paavola says.
     The Finnish Medical Association reports that Finland has 572 radiologists of working age. Nearly one in ten radiologists' posts in Finnish hospitals are vacant.
     
About 4.2 million x-ray pictures are taken in Finland every year, according to the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). The biggest expense is incurred by taking the pictures, and the necessary equipment.
      Timo Keistinen, head physician of the Vaasa Health Care District, says that about one in five x-rays could be subject to remote analysis.
     Currently more than half of Finnish x-rays are examined by the doctor who treats the patients and nobody else. In rural health centres, they handle up to 80 per cent of x-ray analysis with no help from a radiologist, Timo Keistinen says.
     The cost of getting an analysis from a radiology specialist varies from EUR 10 to EUR 50.
     Teemu Paavola at LifeIT does not want to estimate how much cheaper the Indian doctors will prove to be.
     
Ilmo Parvinen, head of health care matters at the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (SITRA) is also interested in outsourcing the analysis of mammograms to India.
     Parvinen says that such a move could lead to considerable savings. "Customer service would improve, and the quality is verifiable", Parvinen says.
     About 200,000 mammogram x-rays are taken each year to diagnose possible breast cancer in Finnish women.
     Mammograms account for about five per cent of all x-ray examinations in Finland, and the number is growing, as routine screening is expanded from the 50-59 age group to include those aged 60-69.
     
Parvinen visited Bangalore last year to learn more about a local company specialised in analysing x-rays and MRI images.
     The centre operates around the clock; the pictures are analysed in half an hour at a tenth of the cost that prevails in Finland, where 80 per cent of the studies are conducted by the private health care provider Suomen Terveystalo.


Links:
  LifeIT website

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