New Delhi [India], January 14 (ANI): The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday visited 'E-Sanjeevani' hub at CGHS headquarters, reviewed the working of eSanjeevani tele-consultation facility and interacted with beneficiaries, doctors and officials across the country.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the consulting doctors provided tele-consultation. Patients inquired about ailments such as fever, runny nose and body ache and what tests they should get done. This also included an elderly cardiac patient who could not go out of home for medical consultation.

The consulting doctor prescribed the necessary medical tests and reviewed the medicine being taken by the beneficiary. The Union Minister said, "In pandemic situations like Covid, tele-consultation is a boon specially for primary health care."The Union Minister noted that "E-Sanjeevani is a revolution in the health sector in the country. It is providing affordable and accessible health care as envisioned by the Prime Minister".

"People in many states have been quick to recognise the benefits of eSanjeevani and this has led to an encouraging trend of widespread rapid adoption of this digital modality of seeking health services. Patients consult with doctors and specialists on a daily basis using this innovative digital medium to seek health services," he said.

Mandaviya also stated that the "use of this platform is addressing the shortage of doctors and specialists at ground level while reducing the burden on secondary and tertiary level hospitals."It is also plugging the digital health divide that exists in urban and rural India, he added.

The Health Minister recommended the doctors seek consultation with subject experts and specialists through the hub-spoke model.

The government is committed to creating more hubs and spokes across the country, he said.

eSanjeevani, the national Telemedicine Service of the Government of India, is a technological intervention conceptualized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and designed, implemented and operationalized by DAC which leverages Information Technology to enable remote doctor consultations.

It has been deployed in two modes: eSanjeevaniAB-HWC: A Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine system under Ayushman Bharat Scheme at Health and Wellness Centres to provide specialised health services in rural areas and isolated communities.

The second model is eSanjeevaniOPD: A Patient-to-Doctor telemedicine system to enable people to get outpatient services in the confines of their homes.

eSanjeevaniAB-HWC has accounted for over 1.60 crore consultations. Currently, around 33,297 Health and Wellness Centres acting as 'Spokes' are aligned to over 2991'Hubs' of District Hospitals and Medical Colleges.

eSanjeevaniOPD platform has served over 65 lakh patients in 35 States/UTs. Over 1,10,988 doctors and paramedics have been trained and onboarded, so far.

664 online OPDs have been set up on eSanjeevaniOPD and a total of 2.17 crore (2,17,60,433) tele-consultations have been done to date.

Over 1,10,000 patients are served through eSanjeevani on a daily basis, establishing itself as a parallel stream of healthcare services delivery. 53 per cent of the consultations have been taken by women. (ANI)