To ensure a seamless system for emergencies and trauma care, aimed at offering better and timely medical services to devotees during the ongoing Brahmotsavams at Tirumala, the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) has initiated steps to provide a ‘remote presence’.
With priorities on the ‘golden hour’ and the ‘platinum 10 minutes’, the SVIMS will be adopting an ‘advanced telemedicine approach’ to address the medical emergencies if any during the nine-day religious fête.
SVIMS Director cum Vice-Chancellor T.S. Ravikumar said the system would enable expert medical care to be delivered on site.
“For example, if a person has a cardiac emergency, an on site ECG can be made ready by cardiologist stationed at the Ashwini Hospital at Tirumala. In case of a serious condition, resuscitation would begin at the Ashwini/Apollo Hospital, with the information transmitted in real-time to the SVIMS Emergency Room/Cathlab. Expert opinion would be made available from SVIMS to Tirumala by remote presence, followed by other necessary plans,” he added.
Dr. Ravikumar said the paradigm would be used for all types of emergencies notably trauma care, as the first few minutes/hour were critical.
The SVIMS has also deployed doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and students at various locations, till the completion of the Brahmotsavams and have also met technical experts at command and control centre set up by the TTD to seek emergency/trauma system solutions from the robust surveillance measures in place.