Port Blair, Oct. 19: In its efforts to provide better health care facility to the people in the remote part of A&N Islands, the Health Department today started the telemedicine services through ‘eSanjeevani’ application in Isles. The Chief Secretary, A&N Administration, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS as the chief guest launched the telemedicine services at a brief function held in the conference hall of the Secretariat in the presence of Commissioner-cum Secretary (Health), Shri Nikhil Kumar, IAS, senior Officers of Administration, Doctors of Health Department and others.
Congratulating the health officials for the successful launch of the eSanjeevani, the Chief Secretary remarked that the launch of tele-consultation in the Territory is a revolutionary step in the annals of these Islands. To have a facility of such magnitude, overcoming the distance and the problems faced by the people residing in remotest parts of the Islands is not only a game changer, but also a life saver, he said.
The Chief Secretary mentioned that thousands of people and children especially the poorest of the poor who are not able to get specialized health care for some or the other reasons will now be benefitted from the launch of this eSanjeevani application. Providing specialized treatment sitting at Headquarter for the people in remotest part of the A&N Islands is an excellent work, the Chief Secretary said.
The Chief Secretary urged for conducting workshop, training and proper dissemination of this facility available for the people of remote Islands. He further directed for maintaining a data mechanism on the number of tele-consultations conducted and how it is benefitting the people.
Earlier, welcoming the Chief Secretary and other officials, the Secretary (Health), Shri Arjun Sharma, IAS informed that the eSanjeevani is a telemedicine consultation service which has been launched in 10 Health Centres in A&N Islands spread across the 3 Districts and covering all the blocks except Nancowry block due to connectivity issues which will be covered shortly. He said that people residing in the remotest Islands will have access to specialized medical care with the Specialist available in GB Pant Hospital. A weekly schedule of Specialist has been prepared and initially, 10 PHCs have been identified in which telemedicine services will be started, he said. The Secretary further informed that eSanjeevani application has been developed by CDAC and it is prescribed by GoI as telemedicine facility in which the records of the patients viz. video conferencing, patients records are stored and can be accessed at a later stage, whenever it is required, he added.
Informing about the facets of eSanjeevani, the Nodal Officer eSanjeevani, Dr. P Lal said, this telemedicine application has been started by the GoI. There are two types of eSanjeevani i.e. eSanjeevani OPD and eSanjeevani HWC. Under, eSanjeevani OPD, a citizen can directly consult a doctor available on the eSanjeevani app while eSanjeevani HWC is a doctor to doctor telemedicine system by which consultation can be made by the Medical Officer of PHC/CHC or Community Health Officers of Health & Wellness Centers with specialists at Referral Hospital.
A tele-consultation was also done through video conference with the Doctor at PHC, Campbell Bay during the launch. The tele-consultation was provided by Dr. Pragadish, Child Specialist for a child suffering from respiratory problem.
Initially, 10 peripheral Health Institution have been identified and equipped to start tele-consultation application with Specialists of G.B Pant Hospital. They are CHC, Rangat, CHC, Diglipur, District Hospital, Mayabunder, HWC, Baratang, HWC, Kadamtala, HWC, Hutbay, HWC, Campbell Bay, BJR, Hospital Car Nicobar, HWC, Swaraj Dweep and HWC Shaheed Dweep.