More than Rs 82L granted for setting up Ayush telemedicine services in at least 22 districts

KOLKATA: State Health department has sanctioned funds worth Rs 82.72 lakh, which will be diverted to 22 districts for setting up Ayush telemedicine services. State government has already released the amount in favour of the chief medical officer of health (CMoHs) in the districts.

An order has been issued by the Health department to all the districts attaching the standard operating procedure (SoP) and also guidelines as to how to move forward with the project. Health department has already taken up an elaborate project to set up more than 15,000 health and wellness centres, which are coming up across the state where telemedicine services will be made available in phased manner so that the initial management of various patients can be done through this platform without having to shift the patients to the city hospitals.

The department has laid stress on an integrated health management system which will ease the health care delivery mechanism both in the government and private sectors.

"Tele-medicine facilities are coming up in a big way in the health wellness centres, which will do the initial management of patients. Doctors have often suggested to us that if the initial management can be done through telemedicine many stroke patients and others do not require an admission in the city hospitals," a senior Health department official said.

State government has been in the process of developing an integrated health management system which will not only look into the government sector but will also cater to the private sectors through an integrated system where health registries, digital depositories, information relating to the referrals will be available, officials added.

It will help to handle situations through an intelligent and smart approach and thereby bringing more transparency and efficiency into the system.