Telemedicine clinics received over 3,000 call: LRH official

PESHAWAR: Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Medical Teaching Institute (MTI) Dean Prof Abdul Latif Khan has said that telemedicine clinics launched by the management of the hospital had received more than 3000 calls from both inside the country and abroad.

Talking to a group of journalists here Wednesday, he said that telemedicine clinic was launched to provide health services to the people without any travel and financial burden and risk of exposure to coronavirus.

He added that besides receiving calls from all cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, these clinics also got calls from Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Malaysia, Afghanistan, China and other countries.

He said that the clinic received 1696 calls in April followed by 672 calls in May and 758 calls in June respectively.

“The second crucial initiative taken by the management of the hospital was the establishment of live satellite link (tele-link) between the families of corona patients to prevent the spread of the disease in the community,” he said.

These steps, he said, had reduced anxiety and uncertainty amongst families and also brought significant reduction in the violence against health workers.

He said the hospital has also initiated counseling for the families of the patients. A team comprising doctors, nurses, psychologists and volunteers sit with the family of patients and addressed their concerns, he said, adding that the initiative would be further expanded in near future.

The hospital has also established computerized data collection system on the Health Management Information System (HMIS), he added.

“Under this system, the hospital is storing and maintaining records of the patients for an indefinite period,” he said, adding that the close monitoring by management and faculty in corona crisis resulted in marked improvement in computerized data collection.

He maintained that a corona triage centre was also been established at LRH, where a patient would be assessed upon arrival to determine the urgency of the problem.