A group of specialist doctors have gathered together to inaugurate Kerala’s first virtual specialty hospital, after the health department’s e-sanjeevani telemedicine project. The trial track of this virtual hospital has already begun and will start functioning fully very soon.

Dr Boben Thomas, consultant medical oncologist at Thiruvananthapuram, said that in this pandemic situation, it is the best available option as they cannot do a physical examination for many patients. Only in an emergency such examinations are done at hospitals. Therefore, this platform could be the best option for patients and doctors.

Caretel is a web-based (www.caretel.net) and mobile-based virtual hospital that offers consultation services from doctors of more than 20 specialities. Mathew Jacob, Director of Caretel, said that doctors and patients who are in any part of the world can have direct communications via video call. They have a Dr Cherian Thampy, from Abu Dhabi, who attends to the necessities of his patients in Thiruvananthapuram. He was working initially in Thiruvananthapuram.A patient can book an appointment and a reminder notification is then sent via SMS or email. Patients can assess their vitals or add any new vitals and also track them with graphical view on their mobile app. Prescriptions and reports given by the doctor are synced in the patient’s app. Pictures of prescription, laboratories results and other documents can also be uploaded and stored on the app. Mobile Dicom Viewer is accessible to view radiology images on the app. Also, the doctors are given separate dashboards to store records of their patient.

Dr Joseph Sebastian, consultant neurologist, Kottayam, said that it is effective for people who require follow up treatment and are living in containment zones and are unable to reach any hospital and for those who are dreading a hospital visit. Asthe doctors are having live discussions with patients via video call, they are very satisfied. Patients open up more when they see and talk to a doctor directly.

Dr Thomas said that more than 200 patients hadused the platform in one month during the trial run. Many patients prefer the platform as they get worried about travelling out during this coronavirus pandemic. People and doctors have learned to modify with times.

Source: ET Healthworld