MKCG Medical College scores over others for better health facilities

Patients skip travel, benefit from telemedicine

BERHAMPUR: The telemedicine centre at MKCG Medical College and Hospital has been helping a large number of people, who have been treated at various hospitals across the country, to save travel costs. Pratibha Panda of Somnath Nagar in Berhampur was operated upon at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow in 2010. But she was not required to travel to Lucknow for consultations thereafter. She comes to the telemedicine centre here and her doctors review her progress. A total of 165 patients suffering from major illnesses benefited last year from this centre. By July this year, another 110 patients had used this facility. Apart from the Lucknow hospital, follow-up services are offered by Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, Sri Ram Chandra Medical College, Chennai, and AIIMS, New Delhi, to MKCG. A patient pays Rs 100 per visit and there are no user charges for below poverty line patients.

“The telemedicine centre has not only benefited the patients, but also helped postgraduate medical students, medical professionals at district headquarters hospitals, nurses and laboratory technicians. It is playing a significant role in improving medical education. Some of our experts have also participated in international conferences in Oman, Japan, Pakistan and Bangladesh through the hub at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow,” said Rasananda Mangual, nodal officer of the centre. Telemedicine was started in Odisha in 2001 with the support of the Centre’s department of information technology and the Lucknow hospital. The same year, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) came forward with an offer to establish a telemedicine network in the state, Mangual said. “Odisha Telemedicine Network was established in 2003 that connected all the three state government-run medical colleges — SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, and VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla, to the Lucknow hospital through satellite-based connectivity. The hardware and software were provided by ISRO. They also provided the bandwidth free of charge,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph