Telemedicine, tele-counseling, and helpline have emerged as important tools to ensure citizen’s well-being in major cities with social distancing being one of the key measures to fight COVID-19 pandemic.
Citizens are collaborating with medical practitioners such as certified doctors and health experts in the city to get online medical consultation facilities.
According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Indian Medical Council, the practice of remote delivery of medical services during the lockdown period is allowed.
The guidelines allow doctors to write prescriptions based on telephonic, textual or video conversations — chat, images, messaging, emails, fax and others. Citizens can, therefore, consult certified medical practitioners without the need to go out of the house, reducing the risk of COVID-19 spread.
Smart City project, one of the flagship schemes of the government, envisages effective communication with district administration to monitor the civic amenities, health and sanitary condition in the area.
In the prevailing situation, the suspected cases of COVID-19 are being monitored and addressed using the Telemedicine tool in these cities, said a senior Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry official.
According to the Ministry data, in Madhya Pradesh, the integrated command and control centre (ICCC) at Bhopal is being used as a helpline and tele-counselling centre for citizens.
Integrated with 104, toll-free numbers of ICCC, the operators are trained to attend calls while medical officers are stationed at ICCC in different shifts to assist during any situation.
In Ujjain ICCC, two doctors are stationed at the centre for 24 hours duration to take video conferencing/ telephone calls from the citizens and give appropriate advice based on the symptoms. 40 Medical Mobile Units (MMU) are operationalized to distribute medicines to people based on prescriptions by doctors.
In Jabalpur, dedicated Rapid Response Team (RRT) and Mobile Action Unit (MAU) are present on ground ward-wise who coordinates with officials present at ICCC regarding screening, ambulance, quarantine etc. Medical Team is stationed at ICCC to provide any immediate medical attention to citizens through helpline.
Facilities of telemedicine and video consultation of citizens through WhatsApp video call +917222967605 are in place. All the operators are given daily tasks to monitor Quarantine citizens, Passengers who came from abroad recently and resolve general queries regarding Covid-19.
In Gwalior, a 24X7 counseling helpdesk setup at the ICCC. Trained professionals resolve the queries raised by citizens at an initial level and these calls are then connected with a designated doctor. This counseling process is reducing the panic among citizens/callers. The doubtful citizens are being encouraged to consult a doctor.
In Satna and Sagar, doctors are stationed at ICCC to take video conferencing/ telephone calls from the citizens and give appropriate advices based on the symptoms.
Uttar Pradesh:
Kanpur Smart City is tracking of health services from ICCC. Telemedicine is offered through video conferencing facility launched by City Administration. Citizens have been requested to make video calls on the number 8429525801 to avail the facility.
In Aligarh, Doctors deployed at Aligarh Smart City Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC) during 11 AM to 2 PM and 5 PM to 8 PM to enable Telemedicine and Video Conferencing facility to citizens through a dedicated number.
Maharashtra:
Nagpur Municipal Corporation has launched Corona virus Application for the benefit of the symptomatic citizens having problem of cough, fever and difficulty in breathing.
Citizens will just have to fill the information about their symptoms on this application and submit it and the mobile application detects whether they have related symptoms are not.
In case of identified symptoms, the mobile application will inform the team of NMC doctors for further monitoring and action.
Karnataka:
In Mangaluru, a dedicated Call Centre with helpline no. 1077 has been operationalized for monitoring & advising the citizens under self-quarantine as telemedicine facility.
Dedicated professionals from Mangaluru Corporation, Police and Doctors are available at Command and Control Centre (CCC), to take calls from the citizens and provide appropriate information
Tamil Nadu:
In Chennai, 25 doctors are engaged in ICCC, they had given 250 quarantine people each to guide their counterparts and give them moral and psychological support.
They will also refer necessary medicines, if required. In Vellore, 118 suspects are mapped with individual health experts for advice.
The contact details and medical history are shared and necessary advice given to the suspects.
Gujarat:
In Gandhinagar, the Health team (Expert Doctors) suggests initial steps/precautions to the home quarantine or corona suspicious patients through video conference only, contact numbers of grocery stores for all sectors of Gandhinagar have been distributed to the citizens of the city through Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation’s website.
Rajasthan:
Kota Smart City is facilitating remote digital medical consultation and connects the local medical stores.