eSanjeevani: Telemedicine services connecting patients with doctors online revolutionising health sector

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 18 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh government is running 128 health and wellness centres where patients are being given telemedicine consultations free of cost under eSanjeevani, a Central government scheme that offers online OPD doctor consultations to citizens.
Telemedicine entails the delivery of health services from a distance using the internet and it not only extends the reach of health services but also improves the quality of health services besides saving time and money.
eSanjeevani - the National Telemedicine Service of India is the world's largest telemedicine implementation in primary healthcare.
Dr Sunil Kumar, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, told ANI that about 128 health and wellness centres are being run in Hapur in this manner, where patients are being given telemedicine consultation free of cost under e-Sanjeevani.
"Senior doctors and experts are consulting with patients through video calls for their treatment," Kumar informed further.
Kumar told that a Community Health Officer (CHO) is present at each Health and Wellness Center, which does the primary examination of the patient and if required, gets them a telemedicine consultation from an MBBS doctor.
CMO Kumar told that these doctors are present in Primary Health Center, Community Health centre and District Hospital and are available online on Sanjeevani Portal.
"Around 120 senior doctors are available online every day. In such a situation, if any expert or senior doctor is required at any health and wellness centre, then immediately the patient is connected online for a consultation. The CHO present at the centre connects the patient to the doctor," CMO Hapur told ANI.
The CMO further informed that people living in rural areas are immensely benefited from these centres as they do not need to go to any big hospital or far away for better treatment and facilities.
"Rather, he can go to the Health and Wellness Center in his village and get his treatment done through telemedicine consultation. Patients tell their problems to the CHO present at the centre, after which the CHO gets the patient connected to the doctor. In this way, patients are getting better treatment near their homes," CMO further added.
Gynaecologists, surgeons, orthopaedic doctors, ENT doctors etc. experts are available on e-Sanjeevani.
Additional CMO Dr Praveen Sharma told ANI that earlier people living in rural areas had to run to the cities or to the Primary Health Center (PHC), which is 8 to 10 kilometres away from the village, for primary health check-ups or treatment.
"But from the year 2018, Health and Wellness Centers have been started in rural areas. Online telemedicine consultation is being given to patients at these centres in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. And they don't have to run far away for every type of treatment. 58 types of medicines and 14 types of health check-ups are available at these centres. For example, tests like haemoglobin, urine tests etc. are being done at these centres," additional CMO informed.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday informed that the Central government's national telemedicine service eSanjeevani registered over 10 crore teleconsultations.
He said that over 57 per cent of the beneficiaries of eSanjeevani are women and around 12 per cent of beneficiaries are senior citizens.
Mandaviya said: "eSanjeevani is a revolution in the health sector of the country. India has crossed a landmark milestone in its eHealth journey. The Government of India's national telemedicine platform - eSanjeevani- registered another landmark by providing teleconsultation services to 10 crore beneficiaries". (ANI)