NMC seeks free tele consultation from city private doctors

NAGPUR: Soon, free-of-cost telephonic consultations for home-isolated Covid-19 patients will begin in the city. However, the local chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) stated that they can’t compel any doctor to offer services for free.
On Saturday, top administrative officials of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) held a meeting with the representatives of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Vidarbha Hospitals Association (VHA).
According to NMC health committee chairman Virendra Kukreja, a doctor will cater to a maximum of ten patients. “They will have to register with us and we will allot them a doctor. S/he will advice the patient on blood tests, CT scan, medicines and need for hospitilzation etc,” he said.
According to Kukreja, another round of talks would be held with IMA and VHA representatives on Monday and then this scheme would be made public. On shortage of beds, Kukreja said, “Additional municipal commissioner Jajaj Sharma is trying his best to increase the beds every day.”
IMA Nagpur president Dr Archana Kothari said that if doctors were willing to provide free teleconsultancy to patients the NMC could go ahead with the scheme. “They can't compel any doctor to offer services for free,” she added.
Convener of VHA Dr Anup Marar stated that the meeting delved into the need to commence teleconsultation services for patients on home isolation. “IMA has offered the expertise of willing volunteer doctors. It was conveyed that NMC will allocate patients to each doctor for desired tele-consultation and no litigation issues will befall on these doctors. Moreover, the proposal of IMA to have public education sessions on Zoom platform, FB Live, youtube, private channel on daily basis was also accepted by NMC,” he said.
During these daily sessions, all FAQs will be informed to the patients on a daily basis. “Any subsequent query can be cleared by patients with respective private doctors who will coordinate under respective zonal medical officers. Moreover, a list of laboratories and CT scan centres where tests of Covid patients can be done will also be displayed through these social media platforms. “Guidelines on home isolation, diet regimen, biomedical waste norms, drug prescription, blood tests, CT chest etc will be conveyed by these volunteering tele-consultants as per common protocol designed by Nagpur division corona task force,” added Marar.
On 17 out of 31 hospitals refusing to turn themselves into dedicated Covid hospitals (DCH), Kukreja said, “Each of them has given excuses. We are going through them and talking to them. When action is taken on them it will be made public.”