This work presents a review of advancements made in the areas of bio-telemetry and bio-instrumentation for healthcare applications, especially for remote health monitoring in developing nations. This paper presents a comprehensive study of suitable wireless, analog and RF IC technologies, their challenges and limitations, recent researches and future directions in these areas. As an outcome of this study, a prototype of a healthcare monitoring unit (HMU) has been also proposed by using commercial ICs in accordance with the recommendations given by the wireless planning commission (WPC) in India. Using the proposed HMU, bio-signal capturing and communication is demonstrated in home and infirmary environments. Supported with the practical implementation results for actual constraints and conditions, this work promises to give the scholars a quick start for their research in the area of remote healthcare monitoring.