Helping Hands for People (HHP), Manipur through its HHP Tele Health service has successfully assisted in the treatment of over 400 patients from all across the state during the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The second wave has brought much suffering and difficulties to the public with hospitals even shutting down OPD services. Keeping in view of the crisis, the HHP Tele Health service was initiated on June 1 with an objective to ease the hardships faced by the people, HHP- Manipur stated.
The Tele health service provides the opportunity for people to directly communicate with qualified doctors and seek professional advice from them via telephones or mobiles. The service is available from 9 am to 3 pm daily in three different languages, including Manipuri, English and Hindi. And, right from the launch of the Tele Health service on June 1, the public has been availing its benefits till date, HHP-Manipur stated.
The statement also mentioned that volunteers of HHP had donated 730 units of blood to JNIMS, RIMS and SHIJA hospitals when the medical facilities were having a blood shortage crisis during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. And during the present second wave of the pandemic, the HHP Tele Health service has been instrumental in addressing the difficulties arising from the shutdown of OPDs at hospitals.
The Tele health service commenced with 10 doctors as volunteers, and now there are about 40 doctors involved in helping out the masses with 30 more doctors voluntarily joining up for the Tele health service. “Presently, we have specialist doctors in almost every field though the service still lacks doctors in the fields of ortho, psychiatry and ENT. And, if more doctors in the state join up, the HHP Tele Health service will become a more comprehensive unit,” HHP-Manipur added.
The HHP Tele Health service has received calls from more than 400 individuals including those from remote areas of Manipur and even from people outside the state. Amongst these, a total of 268 patients both Covid and non-Covid patients have been successfully treated, which is roughly equivalent to 90 per cent, while the rest have been admitted to casualty departments of hospitals due to their being either major or emergency cases. An overwhelming incident for the Tele health service was the case of an individual who was a doctor himself.
Within a short period of the launch of the Tele Health service, the MO in charge of the PHC of Chakha village Dr Gan Panmei located near the Nagaland border, personally called up the service for consultations in regard to a stone case patient whose stomach was swollen up due to inability to pass urine as a result of stones blocking the patient’s urinary tract. And a subsequent conference call with professor Surgery JNIMS Hospital Dr Jeetendra Ningomba; associate professor, Hematology, JNIMS Hospital; and consultant Urology, Raj Medicity Dr Shantajit, was able to save the life of the patient.
Besides this, a youth, Jackie Kamei had walked three kilometres from Taobam Irang Village from where he could access mobile network and call up the health service in regard to a 48-year old adult, Chingkhiukhuanang Kamei who had a stomach ailment. After consultations with professor at CMC Hospital Chennai Dr Gambhir and following his prescriptions, the patient was able to recover, it added.
