After its successful roll-out in three states, Ex-Defence OPD, now renamed the Defence National OPD, was rolled out pan-India on Friday and is available on the e-Sanjeevani platform.

Availability of veteran defence medical professionals on the government's platform has provided additional impetus to the Stay Home OPD, a Ministry of Defence statement said.

"Their vast experience and expertise is being optimally utilised by patients across the country. This initiative will go a long way in obtaining necessary medical advice and consultation in the safe environment of patients' homes, avoiding unnecessary visits to hospitals and increasing the risk of getting infected with Covid-19 and overburdening limited health resources," it said.

In order to mitigate the criticality of inadequate availability of specialised medical manpower, veteran defence doctors have come forward to provide free online consultation services on this platform.

The e-Sanjeevani OPD is the government's flagship telemedicine platform developed by C-DAC, Mohali under, the aegis of the Health Ministry. It facilitates free online medical consultation and online prescription of medicines.

‘Ex-Defence OPD’ was launched on May 7 in a phased manner by Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Surgeon Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, Director-General of the Armed Forces Medical Services. Initially available for Uttar Pradesh, it was extended to Rajasthan on May 10 and Uttarakhand on May 11 as more veteran defence volunteer doctors came on-board.

As of Wednesday, 85 veteran defence doctors have provided online consultation to more than 1,000 patients.

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