Kolkata: As Bengal pushes to deepen last-mile healthcare access, the Mamata Banerjee government’s telemedicine initiative, ‘Swasthya Ingit’, designed to bridge the gap between remote communities and specialist medical care, has hit a major milestone, surpassing seven crore consultations so far.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had launched ‘Swasthya Ingit” on August 2, 2021. Announcing this outstanding feat on her social media post, the Bengal Chief Minister, on Monday, stated: “Health care in West Bengal achieves yet another milestone. #Swasthyaingit, a unique GoWB initiative to connect remote areas with higher-level health facilities through telemedicine, crossed 7 crores consultations landmark today.”
Since its inception, the telemedicine platform has been playing a crucial role in linking remote and underserved regions with specialized medical care, supported by a vast network of health centres, hubs, and doctors across the state.
This initiative connects remote areas with specialised healthcare, utilising over 11,000 health centers and 9,000 doctors to provide more than 80,000 daily teleconsultations, making healthcare accessible to the remote areas.
The introduction of telemedicine through the ‘Swasthya Ingit’ portal has emerged to be extremely handy for the government to meet challenges posed by the Covid endemic.
In a post on X, Banerjee further added: “The initiative delivers daily teleconsultations via 11,000+ health and wellness centres and 63 hubs at higher health facilities. It enables 80,000+ consultations daily with 9000+ doctors transforming affordable and accessible healthcare in West Bengal.”
The Mamata Banerjee government had launched ‘Swasthya Ingit’, through IT-based Audio-Visual Tele-consultation services to serve the people in rural areas.
Patients in districts have been able to avail specialised treatment in various disciplines from the district Suswasthya Kendras. This has taken off the pressure on government hospitals to a great extent. The state Health department had provided training among doctors in the rural health centres at the block level and also in subdivisions on how to provide health services online.