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Doctors on call, 24/7, and free
Sometime this year, doctors will sit in call centres to attend to your medical worries round the clock.
Sometime this year, doctors will sit in call centres to attend to your medical worries round the clock.
This is Delhi government’s newest plan to make medical advice available to you at a minimum cost and maximum convenience.
“We are planning to have a call centre manned by about 50-60 trained doctors and paramedics, who will be able to handle any basic health inquiry,” said Kiran Walia, health minister of Delhi.
“Service will be free of charge, as only telephone call rates would apply. In case of complicated illnesses, they will guide the patient to the specific specialists in different hospitals, to avoid crowding in OPDs.”
The Delhi government is planning to do it with the help of private players, who will be responsible for the infrastructure and maintenance, while the government will provide the manpower.
The government plans to have a common number for the call centre with a bank of lines. This will work like the ambulance and police helpline numbers, which work 24/7.
Delhi government is also hoping that this concept may help in building a community-wise database of patients, which may help health researchers.
“This is a tried and tested concept, which has worked extremely well in Mexico and some parts of US,” said JP Singh, principal secretary (health).
“This unique concept is truly suited to the needs of our city. We are hoping that the call centre advice will help to decongest the crowded hospitals, where most of the times people just walk in for basic illnesses like cold and fever.”
Delhi government is also planning to rope in a transaction advisor to work out the modalities of the project. “Since this is a low-cost solution, we are very hopeful that this will also work as a revenue generation model,” said Singh.
“We can also tie up with telecom companies, which I am sure will be more than willing to participate,” he said.
However, the government has not fixed a deadline yet.
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