In order to provide medical help to Corona patients in home isolation, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has started Telemedicine Helpline in association with District Administration and Municipal Corporation in Meerut and nearby districts.

District magistrate of Meerut K Balaji has thanked IMA Meerut for the telemedicine initiative via his tweet.

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The initiative is aimed to provide medical help to Corona patients who are undergoing treatment at their respective homes in isolation. The one-on-one guidance of the expert doctors of IMA would help the ailing patients in recovering from Corona. For this, the district administration and Municipal Corporation would be coordinating with the IMA doctors.

It may be noted that in a Zoom meeting with the doctors of the state on Tuesday evening, CM Yogi Adityanath had suggested the telemedicine helpline.

Elaborating about the initiative of telemedicine helpline, IMA’s secretary Dr Manisha Tyagi informed that so far 53 member doctors of IMA have given their consent to be a part of this initiative.

Initially, the helpline number is 8041424157. A team of 3 persons will attend the incoming calls at the helpline numbers between 10 am -2 pm and 4 pm.-8 pm. The call attendants would attend to the query, gather all necessary information from the caller about their problems and symptoms and then transfer the call to the concerned doctors accordingly.

“We have physicians, gynaecologists, paediatricians, so as per the requirement of the patient the call would be transferred,” said Dr Manisha adding that she is hopeful that this helpline would be really useful to the Corona patients in home isolation and reduce fear amongst them. Also, this would lessen the burden on hospitals as patients with minor symptoms could be easily cured in their homes if they get proper medication, she added.

It may be noted that currently, more than 5 thousand patients are in home isolation in the district. There have been many instances when patients in home isolation have become critical due to improper medication that has even become fatal.

Working closely with IMA, the municipal corporation is providing a team that would attend and segregate the calls of corona patients. Municipal commissioner Manish Bansal has provided a team to IMA that will attend the calls on the helpline and then forward to IMA doctors.

“This team would be trained to attend to the calls of Corona patients,” said Dr Manisha adding that the team members would be briefed about the information they have to collect from patients and how to deal with them.

Dr Manisha is coordinating with the team of the municipal corporation. She asserts that the helpline will also provide assistance to patients of neighbouring districts as well.