HYDERABAD: There is only one doctor for every 9,343 Telangana residents, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With 90 per cent of patients in rural areas going to tertiary care centres, instead of consulting primary health centres (PHC), the former are getting overburdened, affecting the patients and doctors. The finalists of the colloquium held as part of OSMECON 2021, held on Sunday, suggested some ways this burden could be lessened.
Suha Tarannum, an undergraduate student of Osmania Medical College (OMC), suggested setting up of ‘Kutumba Kavacham’, where a family doctor would be assigned to a set of households. The doctor would visit every household once in two months and would be attending to the patient once a week digitally. This could be phased-out from remote villages, then covering rural populations and then sub-urban households, she suggested, adding that it could be made mandatory for undergraduates during their internship to do this.
Participants suggested having an integrated e-referral system, slot-booking system in tertiary care centres, increased OPD timings and initiation of evening shifts, having two sets of doctors working two shifts and having a route map printed on OP slips for guiding patients. In view of the growing population of senior citizens, students suggested promotion of geriatric medicine by allotting a special day for senior citizens.
The medicos suggested having a national health card with a health ID linked with the digital health records and patient’s database, which could be accessed through different portals, with certain checks to access information. This can help control misuse of drugs and help the regulatory agencies monitor them from manufacturing to pharmacy. Participants have also suggested QR coding of drugs, having digitised prescriptions and having drug vending machines.