Last Updated on December 2, 2019 by The Health Master
In one of the first such initiatives to improve delivery of healthcare services in Uttarakhand, the Nainital district administration has decided to initiate a tele-medicine scheme in Betalghat block and Sushila Tiwari Hospital(STH) in Haldwani on a pilot basis.
The district administration officials told that a studio has already been set up in STH and medical officers, paramedics, and tele-medicine experts have been trained. “These medical experts will visit the villages in remote Betalghat block and do basic tests of patients. The live video of the tests will be streamed in the STH studio so that the specialist doctors there can dictate prescriptions to medical professionals on ground,” Nainital district magistrate Savin Bansal told.
The district administration says that the practice will significantly bring down the number of referral cases as the patients would be taken to hospitals only in serious cases. “At present, the locals have to go to Community Health Centres or big hospitals in plains even for minor treatments.
Therefore, the tele-medicine services will not only bring down the referral cases but also reduce treatment cost for the people of rural areas,” Bansal said.
The service will be run on a trial basis for the first six months, he added.
