13,000 patients attended by ‘Doctor on Wheels’ in Udhampur constituency’s remote areas: Dr Jitendra

STATE TIMES NEWS

NEW DELHI: Nearly 13,000 patients have been attended so far in Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency’s remote areas by “Doctor on Wheels”, the first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art, Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven free Mobile Telemedicine Clinic.
This was stated by here on Saturday in a media interview by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh who said that this novel experiment makes use of the latest technology tools whereby the patient attended by the Mobile Telemedicine Clinic is screened, thoroughly investigated and then the consultation is obtained from the concerned super specialist doctor in the one of the leading hospitals in metros like Hyderabad and Bengaluru with whom an arrangement has been tied up for the purpose. This entire exercise of patient examination and providing a prescription is accomplished in around 45 minutes which may otherwise take several days if the patient has to physically go to the hospital, he said.
The majority of beneficiaries of the ‘Doctor on Wheels’ initiative are women, said Dr Jitendra, stating that out of a total of 11,431 beneficiaries in Doda, Hiranagar and Kathua -Billawar areas 6,643 were women.
Same trend is visible currently in the fourth phase in remote Dudu Basantgarh in the upper reaches of Ramnagar block of district Udhampur where as many as 835 women have availed consultation out of a total of 1,452 beneficiaries in 56 villages under 22 Panchayats where the Clinic van has camped so far, he said.
Dr Jitendra further explained that while the entire process of patient’s examination and consultation calls for a very heavy cost, in this case it is being done free of cost to the patients in his constituency through the funds raised from voluntary sources.
The state-of-the-art, Artificial Intelligence (AI) supported “Aarogya-Doctor on Wheels” is possibly the first of its kind Telemedicine Mobile Clinic , Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said .
Its huge success will inspire other similar initiatives elsewhere across the country as well, he said.
“Aarogya-Doctor on Wheels” functions on the latest methodology wherein a patient can narrate his illness or complaint in his native language and the AI Doctor understands the language and responds to the patient in the same language, said Dr Jitendra Singh.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, this free telemedicine facility overcomes the problems of ‘Accessibility, Availability and Affordability’. He said, the obstacles like quality of services, specialised doctor, distance of travelling and cost of consultation/treatment are targeted and solved efficiently through this facility. Ordinarily, a metro hospital will cost a patient very heavily and may take two to three weeks’ time. This type of free telemedicine mobile camp solves all the problems especially for those having weak socio-economic background, he said.
For the convenience of patients, the prescribed medicines are also being provided free of cost and in addition, medicine kits containing commonly used drugs are being distributed across the constituency free of cost to all the families in general, Dr Jitendra informed. India, under PM Modi, surprised the world by administering 220 crore Covid vaccine doses through Cowin, a fully digital platform, he said.