Free medical advice facility started through C-DAC e-Sanjeevni OPD platform: Civil Surgeon Ludhiana

Ludhiana: The Punjab government has undertaken a citizen centric initiative to ensure uninterrupted health services to the public in Punjab due to the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Government of Punjab has already launched e-Sanjeevani–Online OPD (Doctor to Patient), integrated telemedicine solution developed by C-DAC Mohali.
While providing information, Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga stated that Punjab Health Minister Mr Balbir Singh Sidhu has issued directions that this platform extends the reach of specialised healthcare services to the masses in rural areas and any isolated community pockets. It provides a platform for citizens to connect with a network of Specialist doctors over video conferencing and obtain medical treatment and advice for common health related concerns while sitting at home.
Dr Bagga said that besides Telemedicine services in Health & Wellness Centres, the Health & Family Welfare department with active support from the Governance Reforms and Public Grievances Departments has implemented this program across the State. He said that apart from enhancing the quality of medical services, e-Sanjeevani addresses the issues pertaining to uneven distribution and shortage of infrastructural as well as human resources to an extent. e-Sanjeevani also aims to make healthcare services equitable by bridging the digital divide that exists between the urban vs. rural and rich vs. poor.
He further highlighted the salient features of e-Sanjeevani OPD which includes Patient registration, Token Generation, Queue Management, Audio-Video Consultation with a Doctor, ePrescription, SMS/Email Notifications, Serviced by State’s Doctors (From the Department of Health & Family Welfare), Totally Free Service, Fully configurable (no. of daily slots, no. of doctors/clinics, waiting room slots, consultation time limits, etc).
The application also has an advanced degree of security against unwanted elements. He further added that, to keep the operations smoother at the district level, Department of Governance Reforms and Public Grievances has deputed District Technical Coordinators (DTCs) or District e Governance Coordinators (DeGCs) from each District to assist the teams of Doctors at the district level.
He mentioned that, Doctors in Punjab have been using eSanjeevani (Doctor to Doctor) system for over a decade now, hence they would not take much time to adopt eSanjeevani – Online OPD (Doctor to Patient) platform as well. It has an extremely user-friendly interface which facilitates both tech savvy and relatively novice doctors/users in the rural and urban environment to access the application. He further said that there is a degree of unease among citizens due to the inability to reach doctors in non-emergency cases amid the lockdown. He added that this technology shall help all sections in the society to gain access to quality medical advice and treatment amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
This feature is also available in the COVA Punjab mobile application which is available for Android on the Google Play Store and for iOS on the Apple AppStore. To avail the benefits of “e-sanjeevani-opd”, a patient/person should have a computer, laptop or tablet (Tab) along with a separate or inbuilt webcam, microphone, speakers and access to a 2Mbps or faster internet connection (LAN/WiFi). To provide the free online medical consultations, initially a team of 3-4 doctors of the State Health department will be available from Monday to Saturday (10:00 AM to 1:00 PM) with a capacity to scale up and expand based upon user feedback and wait times. This facility will be beneficial for the sick people who are feeling uncomfortable about visiting hospitals in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.