SSKM Hospital to start telemedicine services
Kolkata: As a part of the state Health department’s initiative to provide initial treatment to heart attack patients in the government-run hospitals in the villages, the SSKM Hospital is going to start telemedicine services under “Swasthya Ingit” app to guide the hospitals on how to remove the blood clot by administering an injection.
State Health department has already introduced telemedicine services to provide better treatment to patients in various hospitals in remote areas. The main objective of the move is to reduce the death of patients after suffering a heart attack. Once the SSKM gives initial treatment guidelines to the village hospitals, there will be enough time for the family members to shift the patient to a better hospital.
Sources in the hospital said the cardiology and medicine department will introduce telemedicine services. If a heart attack patient is brought to a village hospital, all the information related to the patient’s health condition will reach SSKM through telemedicine service and the doctors from the SSKM will advise the attending doctors at the village hospital on how to give primary treatment.
The main objective of “Swasthya Ingit”, IT-based audio-visual telemedicine initiative is to serve rural people so that the specialist doctors from the city’s medical colleges can treat far-off patients through IT-enabled systems.
The initiative was launched by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in August 2021. Following the initiative, the state government set up a robust IT platform and managed to provide affordable, inclusive and sustainable healthcare service delivery up to grassroots level.
