Canberra, New Delhi to play key role in telehealth: Australia's High Commissioner to India

By Ayushi Agarwal
New Delhi [India], September 7 : At the launch of a disability-inclusive virtual healthcare project "Virtu-Care" in New Delhi today, Australia's High Commissioner to India, Barry O'Farrell highlighted the importance of health and how the two countries together can play a significant role to do more on telehealth.
"It's an ongoing collaboration through people-to-people ties. Australia-India council has played a key role in Australia and India Partnership", said Farrell.
Professor Nathan Grills who is the Project lead at the University of Melbourne called India a powerhouse of technology and IT and said that the idea of the project came from personal experiences.
"Health has been a really important part of the framework in responding to be covered both in Australia and in India. We have seen some of our people with disabilities. Not having access to telehealth because it's happened so quickly. So, the idea came from personal experiences over the last years and we are hoping to draw other people's personal experiences with disabilities who are used to virtual healthcare and to see how we can make it more accessible to the people with disabilities", said Grills.
"India is the powerhouse in terms of technology and IT. Australia has a lot of experience especially in academics and research to make sure that what we develop is existing with research and research-informed, they actually do benefit people who are in need, so we are focusing on academics collaborations", he added.
The Virtu-Care Project was announced as one of the recipients of this year's Australia-India Council (AIC) grants by Australia's Foreign Minister, Penny Wong recently.
This aims to produce a telehealth care model that meets the health and rehabilitation needs of people with disability. This pilot project, led by the University of Melbourne (Nossal Institute), will demonstrate the potential of telehealth, providing more inclusive health care services - especially for people with disability. The Government of India and the Government of Australia have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the disability sector and this work will deliver results under that MoU.
"India is marking 75 years of independence and on this anniversary, I'm delighted to announce the recipients of this year's Australia-India Council grants. India is a great friend of Australia's and this funding will continue to build on the links between our countries" the minister tweeted earlier.
The MoU between the two countries was signed in Sydney, Australia in 2018 to encourage cooperation between India and Australia, through joint initiatives in the disability sector and to strengthen bilateral ties between India and Australia.
The Virtu Care 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 in India.
"The announcement comes as we celebrate 75 years of India's independence, as well as thirty years of the AIC. Over that time, the AIC has helped advance Australia's foreign policy and trade interests - strengthening the people-to-people and institutional bonds between Australia and India.
The grants program is key to fostering understanding and encouraging collaboration between our two countries" stated an earlier press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australia.