JOIN USCoronavirus: In a first, Karnataka govt allows tele-consultation
In a first, a statewide tele-consultation service will be launched to facilitate the availability of doctors even as the state government is trying to make the most of technology to make life easy during the coronavirus-driven lockdown.
The free tele-consultation facility will start Wednesday and the government has partnered with digital healthcare platform Practo for this.
Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, who is anchoring this, said this was tested in Malleswaram, the constituency he represents. “It will be available for the entire state. Just by using the app, citizens can consult with doctors. Totally, some 4,000 doctors will be a part of this,” Narayan told DH.
“There was no provision for tele-consultation, but I fought for it and made it happen,” he said. “There was no other way because doctors have shut their clinics and people can’t go out because of the lockdown.”
Not just this, the government aims to train nearly 25,000 doctors and other healthcare professionals on COVID-19 treatment protocol in a week’s time through an online programme that Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar launched earlier this week. This is a collaboration between Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) and Nimhans.
COVID-19 protocol
Under this, experts will train doctors on a 20-page treatment protocol that includes guidelines on timely, effective and supportive management of COVID-19 patients, particularly those with severe acute respiratory illness. This is hailed as a one-of-its-kind programme in the country.
As part of its effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, the government has set up a state-level war room under IAS officer Munish Moudgil. A mobile app called Quarantine Watch developed by the tech-savvy officer and his team has gone live. All those under home quarantine are required to send their selfies to the government through the app every one hour (except between 10 pm
and 7 am).
Selfie verification
“Selfie or photo contains GPS coordinates, so the location of the sender gets known. Every selfie sent is seen by the Government Photo Verification Team. Failure to send selfies, or if wrong photos are sent, then defaulters will be shifted to mass quarantine,”
Moudgil said.
The government has also designed a dedicated COVID-19 website - covid19.karnataka.gov.in - with a dashboard that provides an analytical view of the pandemic in the state. Plus, the Telegram platform has been started to address queries on COVID-19 and take requests for non-medical, non-emergency assistance during crisis.