Deploying a Rural Wireless Telemedicine System: Experiences in Sustainability

A primary concern for projects supported by aid programs is sustainability. Although there is a growing belief that information and communication technologies (ICT) can significantly impact development, in practice creating sustainable ICT projects is extremely difficult. A typical project consists of a pilot stage that aims to demonstrate the basic goals, followed by a deployment stage that aims for both scale and sustainability. A novel ICT project in rural India uses long-distance Wi-Fi networking to enable high-quality videoconferencing between eye hospitals and remote village clinics. The project highlights the importance of sustainability as a first-class goal for systems research.