For 30-year-old Nittra Devi, a paralysis patient in remote Kamru village of Shillai subdivision of Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, the consultation with doctors through telemedicine facility come as a major relief.
Nittra got consultation from Apollo hospital in New Delhi which is otherwise a rare occurrence for her as they had to travel for hours to reach nearest specialized treatment facilities in Nahan, around 90 km from her home.
The Tele-Health service or telemedicine facility was provided during the state government’s Jan Manch programme and was initiated by Deputy Commissioner Sirmaur Lalit Jain on Sunday from Kamru village.
“For remote areas like Shillai in Sirmaur district, getting quality medical consultation is a tough ask,” Jain said, adding it was with this objective that the district administration decided to start telemedicine or TeleHealth Services.
15 other chronic patients of backache and diabetes of this remote village also availed the facility that is being provided by the administration free of cost.
It is worthwhile to mention here that people in Shillai and its surrounding areas of Trans Giri belt are extremely poor and mostly illiterate, who still follows tribal like lifestyle.
The Trans Giri area is tough with most of its villages located far from the roads that makes the people here live in isolation.
Jain told The Statesman that the facility would be provided to the people of the district once in month through Jan Manch programme.
With the start of the telemedicine facility, Sirmaur has become third district of Himachal Pradesh to provide the facility to its citizens.
The government is already providing telemedicine facilities to the residents of Lahaul Spiti at Kaza and Keylong and Pangi in Chamba district.
Sirmaur DC said around 160 complaints were received from the people across the district for resolution, out of which 60 were received online via MyDC android app for today’s Janmanch programme.
The app which was launched in September, is user-friendly and has contacts of the entire district administration as well as space to convey grievances and suggestions from the general public.
The administration had decided to launch the application, keeping in mind the penetration of mobile services as one lakh smart phone users in the district.
These users can directly interact with the administration by this interface and even the deputy commissioner can send bulk messages to the general public in case of emergencies and visits of dignitaries.
At the back end, the application is being monitored by DC office and grievances are being sent to various departments for resolution.