Telemedicine (TM) services a process in which expert medical advice from afar is provided using electronic signals to transfer the medical data from one site to another. As a pilot project to assess the efficacy of TM in developing countries like India, a telemedicine center was set up at the main hospital of Mahakumbh mela--a grand religious fair, at Prayag, a city in north India. The daily reporting of the in-patient and outpatient cases at the fair revealed a surge of diarrhea cases among the pilgrims at the fair. This information was communicated to the referral center at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), which, with the help of its microbiology department, conducted microbiological examinations of stool samples and rectal swabs of patients along with various water samples. Vibrio cholerae was isolated in 22.6% (7/31) of the samples. This information was immediately relayed to the Main Hospital at the fair online, and then to the health authorities, who took strict and prompt measures to improve hygiene. Subsequently, the number of diarrhea cases decreased considerably in a matter of a few days, and thus an epidemic disaster was averted, which could have created havoc in such a large gathering.

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Background: With the recent advent of smart phones, usage of medical apps is on rise. Smart phones are powerful devices that combine the conventional functions of a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities enabling users to access software applications commonly termed as ''apps''. Health care applications (apps) that are downloadable on to smart phones are increasingly becoming popular among clinicians. Aim:The aim of the present study was to assess the usage of health care apps among Medical and Dental doctors.Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional questionnaire based study was conducted on medical and dental doctors of Mamata hospitals, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh. A pretested, self administered questionnaire was used and it consists of questions regarding demographic data followed by usage of health care apps. Descriptive statistics were computed to demonstrate the frequency of responses and the comparisons were made using chi-square test. A p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered to be significant.Results: A total of eighty doctors (48 Medical and 32 dental) completed the questionnaire. More males (n 0 63) than females (n 017) participated in the study. Participants had a mean age of 32.5 years. It was found that 68% of dental doctors and 70.45% of medical doctors are using health care apps on their smart phone. Most of the participants (58.8% of dental and 77.4% medical doctors) use the health care apps for knowledge purposes, while no dental doctors used the apps for diagnosis or treatment purposes. The majority of the dental doctors (41.17%) are using these apps for patient education purpose when compared to the medical doctors (3.22%). Conclusion:There is a high usage rate of health care apps among both medical and dental doctors, with medical doctors using the apps for informational purposes, whereas dental doctors used the apps for patient education.

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