‘Nursing staff must take part in workshop for better execution of telemedicine services’

Kolkata: State health department has directed all the Chief Medical Officer of health (CMoHs) in the districts to ensure that nursing professions take part in state-level workshops for better implementation of telemedicine services in the rural areas through “Swasthya Ingit”. The main objective of the move is to ensure specialised treatment to the people in the remote areas and sensitizing the nursing professionals.

A recent order issued by the department said a state-level workshop for implementation of telemedicine service through Swasthya Ingit portal in primary health centre for staff nurses.

The districts will organise a workshop on April 13 at Swasthya Bhawan which will see representation from all the districts. It aims to orient the staff nurses in primary health centre level on tele-medicine, IT applications.

The state government had launched “Swasthya Ingit”, a telemedicine initiative through IT-based Audio-Visual Tele-consultation services to serve the people in rural areas. Patients in districts are now availing specialised treatment in various disciplines. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had initiated the project to upgrade around 10,357 sub-health centres in the state to HWCs so that telemedicine services can be given.

Patients from the remote parts of Bengal will soon be able to avail specialised treatment in various disciplines, including cervical cancer, lung issues, mental illness only through telemedicine consultations, video-calling and e-Prescriptions from the health and wellness centres, which have come up the districts. Patients can be given high-end treatment without being shifted to the city hospitals.

The State Health department will create various pools with two to four districts falling under each pool. The State Health department had already given emphasis on telemedicine services so that people in the remote areas can avail the health services from a distance. For the smooth implementation, the state government has already come up with robust infrastructure including opening up health and wellness centres in the villages.

People are already getting treatment in many disciplines only through telemedicine consultations.

“If a patient from a far off area suffers from any ailments and wants to consult a specialized doctor in the city, he/she can do so only by sitting at a local health and wellness centre. People are already getting benefits of the scheme. Over 2,300 such centres have been set up in 28 districts,” a senior Health official said.