eSanjeevani telemedicine, the stay home OPD service, has received good response in Kerala with more than 125 consultations being recorded each day, which is among the highest in the country. The state is among the few to join the integrated telemedicine platform that offers a suite of high-utility features.

The state sees this as a sustainable solution for patient care by circumventing the need for direct interface with doctors during Covid-19 times, an official spokesman said here. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) had developed it as an effective consultation platform.

Sustainable OPD solution

The state has already had discussions with major medical institutions/hospitals within and outside for providing specialist consultations to the public, says Rathan Khelkar, Director, National Health Mission, Kerala. These services are expected to go online very soon, he added.

More than 30 doctors currently handle calls for consultations, says Divya S, State Nodal Officer, Training, and now in-charge, eSanjeevani. The services will move to the districts in about a month’s time with specific spokes being established. More doctors would need to be roped in then.

“With this in mind, we have already started training sessions. Services of private doctors will also be used in the coming days," Divya added. The services may be accessed at esanjeevaniopd.in/kerala from 8 am to 8 pm. One may also call DISHA (Direct Intervention Scheme for Health Awareness) set up by the Department of Health Services on 1056 0471-2552056 for help.

Viable and efficient solution

According to State Health Minister KK Shailaja, telemedicine has every possibility to emerge as a viable and efficient solution in Kerala. “It has a definite advantage as it precludes the need for a patient to go to hospital. Specific needs of the elderly and other vulnerable people can be met from their homes.”

If the telemedicine offering picks up momentum the way government anticipates, it would probably want to upgrade it to offering health consultations 24/7, round the clock on all days of the year, she said. As such, prevalence of the virus has forced many hospitals to reject cases of non-Covid-19 patients.

Kerala is high-morbid state and this can lead to a lot of hardships to non-Covid-19 patients, said B Ekbal, Member, State Planning Board. eSanjeevani offers teleconsultations to the public both in general and speciality modes, free of charge. The public and private hospitals have offered their cooperation to make it a success.

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