In the next few years, State denizens can avail traditional medicines through video-calling, mail or phone call. Jharkhand Government has recently requested Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) to sanction a Budget of Rs1 crore for the proposed ‘Telemedicine system for AYUSH’ project.
According to the official documents dispatched to the Ministry in February, telemedicine is a tool used to support the delivery of health services and information. It is made up of three components including people, application technology and telecommunication network links.
Sources at Directorate of AYUSH situated in Doranda said the system will develop a statewide tele-health network infrastructure to enhance healthcare delivery with priority on rural area and medically underserved regions using telemedicine technologies
“It will facilitate patient and rural practitioner’s access to specialist health services and support through AYUSH system of medicine like phone calls, video chats and e-mails. This will lessen inconvenience and cost of patient transfers,” added sources.
They pointed that Jharkhand will likely be the first eastern State to implement such information, education and communication (IEC) based concept. “Presently, the functioning of AYUSH telemedicine system is restricted to the southern States. We will initially start the project in the State capital,” an AYUSH doctor said.
Official reports mention that the proposal for telemedicine was sent to the central government on December 17. A query regarding the request was sent to the state by the centre on February 19. “Taking prompt action on the query, we compiled our needs and sent the documents to the Ministry of AYUSH on February 20,” sources said.
The Budget requirement for the telemedicine covers necessary equipments, furniture, apparatus, six AYUSH doctors, one software technician and three computer operators. Besides, AYUSH medicines, the proposal also focuses on sports medicines.