LUCKNOW: It was a proud moment for King George’s Medical University (KGMU) on Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with its doctors, specifically its telemedicine unit, on the sixth anniversary of Digital India.
The PM was interacting with individual beneficiaries from across the country and KGMU was the only institute to be made part of the virtual interaction. The medical university was chosen because of its recent feat, undertaking the highest number—over 2 lakh—of telemedicine consultations through the e-Sanjeevani app.
The PM later also tweeted his interaction with a patient’s family and KGMU doctors. The hour-long virtual interaction on all Digital India initiatives reserved around eight minutes for KGMU.
A 73-year-old Champaran, Bihar resident who has been receiving tele-consultation from KGMU’s geriatric mental health department since April, KGMU vice chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Dr Bipin Puri, treating physician Dr Bhupendra and nodal officer for telemedicine Dr Sheetal Verma participated in the interaction.
“KGMU was the only institute in the country to be part of the segment on telemedicine. The PM appreciated our efforts for having completed over 2 lakh consultations through e-Sanjeevani and called it an outstanding public service. He also said that telemedicine was a boon during Covid times. It is a great day for all of KGMU and our team,” said Dr Verma.
“E-Sanjeevani also gives us and the patient the advantage to upload and go back to previous test reports,” Dr Bhupendra told the PM.
On the other end of the screen from Gawandri village in east Champaran, 73-year-old Kanti Devi sat with her grandson Shubham Kumar.
“My grandmother was so ill that doctors referred us to KGMU. We made the first visit in March and after a 10-day medicine course, had to return for a follow-up. But the lockdown began and it was extremely risky to travel in the pandemic. The doctor then suggested that we continue through e-Sanjeevani and it was possible for us to make video calls sitting in the safety of our home,” Shubham told TOI.
As the PM spoke to Shubham, Kanti, who is still undergoing treatment, made a gesture expressing that she was doing well.
“Another benefit that came with the app was that the prescription was auto- generated. It made getting drugs from any pharmacist in our vicinity easy and hassle-free,” he added.
