JOIN USKarnataka: Second highest number of tele consultations provided on e-Sanjeevani
Karnataka has given the second-highest number of teleconsultations (13.16 lakh) till July 11, after Andhra Pradesh (17.98 lakh) via the government's e-Sanjeevani app and also accounts for 18 per cent of teleconsultations in India (74.37 lakh) on this app, which was launched at the start of the pandemic in December 2019.
The state has given more than 9.19 lakh OPD consultations where patients directly contact an MBBS doctor via the app. Another 3.96 lakh specialist consultations have been given virtually via 38 hospitals including eight super specialty hospitals like Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
The app available for download in Google Play Store only for Android users, requires demographic data of the patient. After an e-token is generated, one can select which specialty to consult with. A dashboard will open with three minutes waiting time, and it will connect to the concerned doctor.
A hub and spoke model, on the other hand, is when a patient who visits a sub-center or a primary health centre or a community health centre (spokes), gets a specialist video consultation facilitated by a doctor working at any of these respective centres. Post assessment, if they feel a specialist is required, they connect to any of the 28 district hospitals (hubs) or ten multi-specialty hospitals in Bengaluru. There are 2,942 spokes in the state.
The state is providing around 7,000 OPD consultations every day apart from 4,000 specialist consultations. Institute of Nephrourology, Institute of Diabetology, KC General Hospital, Victoria Hospital, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, and CV Raman Hospital also provide specialist consultations on the e-Sanjeevani app.
Nodal officers at these hub centres send a monthly duty roster to the health department to ensure doctors are available across specialties like cardiology, psychiatry, neurology, paediatrics, pulmonology, and intensive care. In all, there are 3,129 doctors registered on the e-Sanjeevani in Karnataka.
Assistant deputy director of e-hospital initiatives in the state health department, Dr Vasanth Kumar, told DH, "To circumvent network issues, e-Sanjeevani offers three options: video call, audio call or texting. If the bandwidth is not enough for video, one can go for an audio call. If the network is patchy in remote areas, they can at least text the doctor on the app. Our rural area reach is around 50 per cent. The main objectives here are to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure."