Tele-consultation a boon during Covid: Mandaviya

New Delhi, Jan 14 Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said in pandemic situations like Covid-19, tele-consultation is a boon, especially for the primary health care, while noting that going to a doctor is not always possible during the pandemic .

Highlighting the services being provided through the digital platform of tele-consultation, Mandaviya said that E-Sanjeevani is a revolution in the health sector in the country.

It is providing affordable and accessible health care as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also emphasised that PM Modi in review meeting with the Chief Ministers of States on Thursday, had highlighted that tele-medicine facilities will help a great deal in providing healthcare services to the needy.

Mandaviya was on a visit to the eSanjeevani teleconsultation facility at the CGHS headquarters, here on Friday, and observed the consultation being provided by doctors through tele-consultation.

He said that this platform is addressing the shortage of doctors and specialists at ground level while reducing the burden on secondary and tertiary level hospitals. It is also plugging the digital health divide that exists in urban and rural India, he added.

The Health Minister recommended the doctors to seek consultation with subject experts and specialists through the hub-spoke model.

eSanjeevani, the national Telemedicine Service of the Government, is a technological intervention conceptualised by the Health Ministry, implemented and operationalized by C-DAC to enable remote doctor consultations. It has been deployed in two modes: eSanjeevani AB-HWC, Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine system under Ayushman Bharat Scheme at Health & Wellness Centres, to provision specialised health services in rural areas and isolated communities.

The second model is eSanjeevaniOPD, a Patient-to-Doctor telemedicine system to enable people to get outpatient services in the confines of their homes.

eSanjeevani AB-HWC has accounted for over 1.60 crore consultations. Currently, around 33,297 Health and Wellness Centres acting as 'Spokes' are aligned to over 2,991 'Hubs' of District Hospitals and Medical Colleges.

eSanjeevani OPD platform has served over 65 lakh patients in 35 states and UTs. Over 1,10,988 doctors and paramedics have been trained and on-boarded, so far. 664 online OPDs have been set up on eSanjeevani OPD and a total of 2.17 crore tele-consultations have been done till date.

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