Designing disability-inclusive virtual healthcare
Research Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic showed the opportunities to extend access to healthcare through the introduction of telehealth. The rapid expansion of telehealth protected patients and healthcare but often excluded the health and rehabilitation needs of people with disability.
In India telehealth has played a critical role in ensuring the continuity of care for hundreds of thousands of patients.
The VirtuCare project applies learnings from the role played by telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the co-design, piloting and evaluation of inclusive virtual healthcare and rehabilitation services. It will produce a model of care to address health and rehabilitation needs of people with disability in India.
Staff
Nicole Bishop
Collaborators
A/Professor Cathy Said, School Of Health Sciences
Oommen John, George Institute for Global Health India
Dr Emma George and Assoc Prof Stacie Attrill, University of Adelaide
Dr Lalit Yadav, Flinders University
Sanjay Sood, National Telemedicine Service, CDAC, Mohali
Ashok Mysore, Infosys
GVS Murthy, Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Public Health Foundation of India
Ms Jubin Varghese, Emmanuel Hospital Association
Huib Cornielje, Enablement
Patrick Olivier and Devlin Varghese, Action Lab, Monash University
CBM / CHAI
Funding
The Virtucare Project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-India Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
It is led by the University of Melbourne and has received in-kind support from partners including Public Health Foundation of India, The George Institute, University of Adelaide, Infosys, the Emmanuel Hospital Association, and E-Sanjeevani through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Mohali, India).
Research Publications
Virtual Healthcare: Towards an Inclusive Future of Healthcare