Chamba gets award for telemedicine

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 21

Chamba district has won the SKOCH silver award for implementing the telemedicine programme in the remote Pangi and Bharmour areas for 2020 among the Aspirational Districts category.

Chamba, the most backward district of the state, was selected by the Centre under the Aspirational District programme in 2018.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Rajesh Guleri said a first-of-its-kind programme was implemented under the public-private partnership framework to provide the much-needed emergency and speciality consultation services to people four years ago. The initiative was launched by the Health and Family Welfare Department in collaboration with Apollo Tele Health.

The CMO said the programme would help address healthcare emergencies in the difficult terrains. It used telemedicine technology to provide online emergency support along with speciality and super-speciality tele-consultation services to two different locations at 14,000 feet in the Himalayan mountain range.

The tele-emergency centre has provided 2,439 tele-consultations and emergency support services to the people.

In Pangi, the centre has offered 1,067 general physician tele-consultations, 880 super-speciality tele-consultations, 43 emergency patient stabilisation support and 1,140 laboratory tests. In Bharmour, the centre has offered 229 general physician tele-consultations, 205 super-speciality tele-consultations, 15 emergency patient stabilisations support and 304 lab tests.

SKOCH Award, instituted in 2003, is the highest civilian honour for public services in the country conferred by an independent organisation. The SKOCH Group is a leading think tank dealing with socio-economic issues, with a focus on inclusive growth. It recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.