AIIMS provided tele-consultation to 34,000 patients during lockdown

Doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have provided over 34,000 tele-consultations to registered patients during the lockdown, according to data provided by the hospital. Around 10,000 patients – already registered and new – get consultation in the out-patient clinics of the hospital every day, around 40% of whom travel from outside the city to seek treatment.

HT Image

The hospital had shut its clinics on March 24 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The OPD clinics at the hospital are yet to open. Proper protocols have to be in place to ensure safety of all the patients as well as healthcare workers. However, during the lockdown too we have been providing consultation to our registered patients. They had to seek their follow-up appointments on a helpline number, and the doctors from the relevant department call them at their allotted time,” said Dr Aarti Vij, chairperson of the media and protocol division of the hospital.

AIIMS is in the process of setting up a screening area for people with influenza-like illnesses to be segregated before they enter the OPD complex so that those with Covid-19 do not infect others. The hospital had earlier planned to start the clinics by this week.

To seek follow-up appointment, people can call the number +91 9115444155.

The helpline number called Covid-19 National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC) also answered 4,500 queries by people and doctors about the viral disease, according to the data.

Doctors from AIIMS have also responded to over 44,000 queries through an email helpline (technicalquery.covid19@gov.in), according to the data. “We get about 1,000 emails a day on this id. The queries range from generally people asking how to go about things to protocols that have to be followed,” said Dr Vij.