Nashik: Soon, patients will no longer have to travel all the way to the city or taluka-level hopitals to see an expert doctor as primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-centres across the district hospitals will be equipped with telemedicine facility.
District health officer Vijay Dekate said, “There is one PHC in Pandhurli in Nashik district where the telemedicine facility is available.
Over the next few months, the aim will be to make telemedicine facility available in all hospitals, at all the PHCs and sub-centres across the district.”
There are total 106 PHCs and 592 sub-centres, popularly known as health wellness centres.
Apart from the regular work of vaccination, health-related survey and other precautionary measures which will help in curbing the outbreak of a disease.
Medical officers at the health wellness centres also check patients for non-communicable diseases like blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.
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Dekate said that the next step would be providing telemedicine facility at all the PHCs and sub-centres.
Doctors in the hospitals for telemedicine
“Expert doctors at Nashik civil hospital will guide the medical officers at the PHCs and sub-centres about the treatment to be given to patients in complex cases.
However, if the doctors at the civil hospital feel that the patient needs to be admitted to a bigger hospital at the taluka or the district-level, the doctor and the patient at the PHC or sub-centre will be advised to do the needful,” he said.
The PHCs have an out-patient department (OPD), apart from six cots and a surgical ward for family planning procedures.
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Various national programmes with respect to health, family planning and giving medical treatment to patients are referred from the sub-centres to the PHCs.
The sub-centres serve as centres for administering first aid, medical check-up of expecting mothers, spreading information on family planning, diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy and health education.
In addition, the doctors at the PHCs and sub-centres now also check presence of non-communicable diseases in patients.
There is also a fleet of ambulances available across the district to rush patients from the PHCs or sub-centres to the rural hospital at the taluka level or the district hospital in case of emergency.
