ABSTRACT
In the rural areas of Pakistan, the lives of people are strongly governed by cultural, traditional norms, which makes introducing change difficult. Women are particularly marked by certain limitations as far as their mobility and interaction with the outside world are concerned. Teleconsultancy services were required in five specialties: general medicine, cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology and nephrology. The level of trust and confidence of the community grew steadily, as indicated by the steady number of follow-up cases, which ranged between 15% and 20% of the patients each month. Low bandwidth and poor connectivity were the major impediments to telehealth services. Although the telehealth clinic was connected to the Internet service provider (ISP) through high-bit-rate digital subscriber line modem, the increased clientele of the ISP at Skardu affected the bandwidth available for data transfer, videoconferencing. The patient information software proved to be of great help in maintaining the medical records of visitors and patients.
