Saturday, February 26 2005 18:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Doctors from India will diagnose patients in Afghanistan and help their counterparts in Kabul to treat them better through a telemedicine link, which Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to set-up between the two nations.

ISRO will provide satellite link to a hospital in Kabul with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi as a pilot, ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair told reporters in Bangalore.

"We have initiated the pilot project by procuring the equipment and will soon commission the facility," he said.

A team of Afghan doctors will be trained to make use of the telemedicine link equipment, costing about Rs four lakhs, which will be an interface with the medical specialists at New Delhi.

Nair said talks were on in providing telemedicine links across the Afghanistan, but the problems were compounded with remoteness of many villages and towns.

"We have to first assess the basic infrastructure such as communication links and equipment that can help us to provide telehealth services. We are in touch with our Embassy to take it forward," he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai early this week at New Delhi had expressed interest in India's telemedicine project and wanted it to be replicated in his nation.