BENGALURU: The health and family welfare department has started training all the district surgeons in preliminary screening of cancer through video conference to operationalise Digital Nerve Centre for cancer patients in association with Tata Trust, Tata Consultancy Services and Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.
A similar centre is planned to be set up in Thiruvananthapuram by the Tata Trust for which an agreement was signed with the Kerala government in May this year. The cost of running the centre will be borne by the Tata Trust. It is linked to the Regional Cancer Centre there and three other major cancer hospitals in the country. It will ensure that cancer patients don’t miss their appointments and also get follow ups if they miss any.
A brainchild of the National Cancer Grid, Tata TCS Digital Nerve Centre plan in Karnataka is expected to be ready by the end of this month.A concept note by TCS says that one of the elements that this Centre helps deal with is the lack of pre-planned appointments.
“This is especially among rural patients, who in-spite of travelling long distance find themselves returning without consultation or enduring another long wait to get an appointment,” the concept note says.
It talks about the deployment of patient care coordinators on ground and placement of clinicians and medical experts at the Nerve Centre. “At the urban health centres, it helps in ensuring certainty of doctor consultation through a help desk and introduction of multiple appointment booking channels,” it said.
Dr Krishnamurthy S, head of surgical oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology told Express, “We have a telemedicine unit. The nerve centre may also operate from here. Kidwai will act as the nodal centre. We don’t know where the command station will be set up.”