Physician Vijay Kumar and dermatologist Dinesh Kamath attend to patients at the Government Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru in the morning and then make themselves available for tele-consultation for those in home isolation for COVID-19 infection.
They are among 30 doctors from Wenlock hospital who are in a panel of government doctors in Karnataka available for tele-consultation for patients in home isolation.
“Soon after our OPD, we switch on the Fresh Desk App that is specially created for patients in home isolation. We offer our services to patients who are connected to us through the help desk,” Dr. Kumar said.
With a majority of the new COVID-19 patients in home isolation, the Karnataka Government roped in the services of doctors, specialists and MBBS students for tele-triaging and tele-consultation of these patients. This facility is in addition to the web-based e-sanjeevani consultation facility that is available to both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. With over 94.92 lakh consultations so far, Karnataka stands second in terms of usage of e-sanjeevani facility offered by the Central Government.
The 30 doctors of Wenlock are also among the panel of doctors consulted through ‘e-sanjeevani’.
In the last one week, Wenlock Hospital Superintendent Sadashiva Shanbhog said the 30 doctors have been consulted by nearly 300 home isolation patients. Weekly tele-consultation duties are assigned from the State hub, and five doctors of the hospital will be among the doctors available in a week.
Dr. Kamath said the teleconsultation facility is a good model, and will be of great use in the coming days in reaching out to people in need of health care.
Laying emphasis on addressing the needs of those in home isolation, Revenue Department Principal Secretary Tushar Giri Nath, in an order dated January 19, asked students and doctors to carry out the assigned tasks as per instructions issued by Home Isolation team and controlling authorities. Non-adherence/non-compliance of the directions will result in action under provisions of Disaster Management Act.
