Page 18 - Tata-Trusts-Annual-Report-2021-22

OF
Strengthening healthcare delivery in
Telangana through telemedicine
While disrupting healthcare access in an unprecedented manner,
the COVID-19 pandemic has also proved to be a game changer in
primary and secondary healthcare delivery for rural and remote
communities through the successful expansion of telemedicine.
The Tata Trusts have been instrumental in this expansion through
a successful collaboration with the Government of Telangana to
set up Care Coordination Centres (CCCs) and telemedicine units
across the state.
Laxmaiah P, a 45-year-old farmer from Raghupatipeth village in
the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana experienced this
first-hand. The hard physical labour involved in his daily farming
routine resulted in a back injury, rendering him incapable of
farming his land. Home remedies proved futile, and he was
advised to visit Mahbubnagar for consultation. But the long travel
time and expenses, involved kept him from making the visit.
Someone then told him about consulting a specialist through a
video at the local government-run Primary Healthcare Centre
(PHC) in his village. During the initial physical examination, the
medical o cer at the PHC booked an appointment for Laxmaiah
on the same day for a video consultation with an Orthopaedic
specialist— Dr Parmeshwari at the Government General Hospital
in Mahbubnagar.
During the video session, Laxmaiah
explained his condition, also
demonstrating the physical
pain and disability he was
A telemedicine video
consultation session in progress.
The Trusts and the Telangana
Government have joined hands
to expand virtual healthcare
access to the remotest parts of
the state
11
HOPE
experiencing. After reviewing the information provided,
Dr Parmeshwari issued an electronic prescription to the PHC, along
with further advice relating to physical therapy for Laxmaiah.
“Speciality telemedicine services in government health facilities
are benefiting thousands of people from lower socio-economic
sections. They also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses
spent on travel, consultation fees for private specialist, and
medicines,” says Dr. Parmeshwari.
Incorporating an innovative hub and spoke model in Telangana, the
state government provided the CCC infrastructure, hubs, and
spokes for the programme, while the Trusts pitched in with IT
infrastructure, handled software development, implementation,
and training. This ensured that speciality and virtual health services
were delivered seamlessly to remote parts of the state, through a
network of 71 hubs and 1,249 spokes, during the last 15 months.
The programme has also successfully onboarded 981 specialists
on to its telemedicine platform, with an average of 60 percent of
them providing virtual speciality consultations. PHCs were also
connected with district hospitals in 33 districts of Telangana
under the programme, facilitating a total of 2.05 lakh
telemedicine consultations.
With regular follow-ups conducted in a similar manner, Laxmaiah
recovered quickly and resumed his daily farming chores. “This
was especially helpful for a poor farmer like me, as I was in a lot
of physical pain and could not undertake travel and was also
unable to a ord the expense. But through telemedicine, we now
have access to such good doctors sitting here in the village.”
3 GOOD HEALTH AND
WELL-BEING
PROJECT ALIGNS WITH SDG