NEW DELHI: As part of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response, the AAP government on Friday launched a first-of-its-kind initiative District Surveillance and Telemedicine Hub which will serve as a free helpline service for patients and their families.
The service, to begin with the residents of Central Delhi district, will help COVID-19 patients with requirements such as medicines, sanitisation and removal of biomedical waste in their area, essential commodities and even any psychological issues, that patients might be facing during the pandemic, said District Magistrate (central Delhi) Nidhi Srivastava.
It will be also beneficial in taking steps to know patients’ real-time data and prevent them from getting critical. A team of doctors will register all grievances and daily health status of COVID-19 patients and upload them on a portal, which will be further supervised by area Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
“During the lockdown, people still were mentally prepared to isolate themselves. After Unlock 2, it is getting difficult for them to live in quarantine and patients are developing psychological issues. Now, they will be able to flag their grievances through this application which is accessible on a toll-free number 18002024215,” said Srivastava.
The Centre had recently asked all the districts in the city to increase the rapid antigen tests and re-map the containment zones in each district, that has led to an increase in the number of hotspots. The District Surveillance and Telemedicine hub will also act as a helping hand in contact-tracing of coronavirus patients. The service will provide analytics and trends daily to the district magistrate and other officials to plan a strategy to fight the virus accordingly, added Srivastava.
The daily reports from the overall health status of patients and the grievance reports will be used by the district administration for monitoring of containment zones and real-time monitoring of patients and solving their issues.
Services for medicines, essential commodities
Chief Secretary Vijay Dev inaugurated District Central’s Surveillance and Telemedicine hub with 30-seater capacity. District residents can dial the toll-free number of 18002024215 between 8 am and 8 pm for services like medicines, sanitisation in their area and essential commodities.
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