THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Attingal Taluk hospital at Valiyakunnu now has telemedicine facility, courtesy of the joint efforts of the hospital authorities and the Attingal municipality. The facility is aimed at providing consultation over the phone to limit the number of patients visiting the hospital in Covid’s wake and provide doorstep medical assistance if needed. The facility can be availed by calling up the number: 8848826969.
“It is meant for those above 65 , children below the age of 10, pregnant women or other emergency cases,” said M Pradeep, chairperson, Attingal Municipality. The calls have a time limit of three minutes. However, this will be extended depending on the necessity. The calls to the telemedicine facility will be handled by the hospital receptionist who will enter a telemedicine OP ticket and put the call through to the respective doctor.
“If the call is for a specialist, we will put it through to the specialist. If the particular specialist is on leave, a general physician will be on standby. The prescription is sent via WhatsApp. If patients do not have anyone around to fetch them the prescribed medicine, ASHA workers will get them the medicine to their homes.“ If they do not have anyone to get them the prescribed medicine, ASHA workers will take the medicines to the respective homes,” said Justin Jose, superintendent, Attingal Taluk Hospital.
According to him, “We have received six calls so far. One of the patients was a 70-something man suffering from orthopaedic problems. The orthopaedist attended the call and since the patient had no one to fetch him medicines, an ASHA worker delivered the medicines. In the case of those with Covid symptoms, they will obviously have to be brought in and the normal procedure will be followed, starting with the swab test”.