COVID-19 treatment: AIIMS Delhi starts Tele-Consultation guidance to state doctors twice every week

New Delhi: In order to strengthen the central government's efforts to reduce coronavirus mortality, AIIMS Delhi starts Tele-Consultation guidance to state doctors on COVID-19 clinical management twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, said a Ministry of Health and Family Welfare statement on Wednesday (July 8).

"Teleconsultation is a critical component of the clinical intervention protocol for COVID-19. A specialist team of doctors from AIIMS, New Delhi shall provide guidance on effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in the ICUs of different state hospitals through tele/video consultation," the statement said. 

It further said, "They will handhold the states in the clinical management of COVID-19 patients to reduce the case fatality rate. These teleconsultation sessions for providing timely and expert guidance to the doctors in the states shall be conducted twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays."

The first session of this exercise begins today at 4.30 pm. Ten hospitals have been selected, including nine from Mumbai (Maharashtra) and one from Goa. 

These hospitals are NESCO Jumbo Facility, P South (Phase II); CIDCO Mulund Jumbo Facility – T (Phase II); Malad Infiniti Mall Jumbo Facility, PN (Phase III); Jio Convention Centre Jumbo Facility, HE (Phase III); Nair Hospital; MCGM Seven Hills; MMRDA BKC Jumbo Facility, HE (Phase II); MMRDA BKC Jumbo Facility, HE (Phase I); Mumbai Metro Dahisar Jumbo Facility, T (Phase II); and Govt Medical College and Hospital, Panaji, Goa.

They have more than 1000 beds for COVID patients including isolation beds, oxygen supported, and ICU beds. Today’s session will be led by Dr Anand Mohan, HOD, Pulmonary Medicine, AIIMS, Delhi.

This exercise will be further extended to another 61 hospitals which have bed capacity ranging from 500-1000 on twice a week basis. A calendar of these expert-led teleconsultation sessions has been drawn up to cover the states till 31st July. 

A total of 17 such states shall be covered include Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra. 

Up to two doctors handling ICU patients from each hospital along with the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) of the concerned state will participate in the VC interaction, the statement added.