AIIMS in New Delhi

Agartala, April 23: Tripura’s G.B. Hospital is tapping the All India Institute of Medical Science in Delhi for telemedicine facility as part of its efforts to help patients in every way possible — which includes banning medical representatives from the emergency ward to minimise prescription of unnecessary drugs.

The hospital recently sent a proposal regarding telemedicine services to the AIIMS authorities and the initial response is “encouraging”.

Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through interactive audio-visual media for the purpose of consultation.

AIIMS has informed the hospital of its preparedness to provide the services after a final decision is taken by the institute’s governing council.

Tripura health minister Tapan Chakraborty will take up the issue with the AIIMS authorities during his forthcoming visit to Delhi.

“We initiated the proposal considering AIIMS’s status as one of the finest hospitals in the world. Almost every day, patients from hospitals go to Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai and Vellore for treatment. If the telemedicine service is provided by the best doctors in AIIMS, the people of the state will greatly benefit,” hospital superintendent Arun Ghosh said.

He said in 2003, Hyderabad-based Care Foundation had launched a telemedicine service facility in Delhi at the initiative of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam but the facility was wound up in 2005 because of lack of trained manpower and technical support.

“We do have a coronary care unit run by Rabindranath Tagore Hospital at Udaipur, headquarters in South Tripura, which has telemedicine service connected with the Calcutta-based parent unit. Such a centre is needed in Agartala, so we initiated the proposal to AIIMS authorities,” Ghosh said.

Besides upgrading its services, the hospital also aims at saving patients from being exploited, leading the superintendent to ban medical representatives from the emergency ward.

Ghosh said he was forced to ban the representatives following allegations that in lieu of commissions, a section of doctors prescribes expensive antibiotics and other medicines.

“I received a number of allegations. A journalist of a local newspaper informed me that he had been forced to buy medicine worth Rs 15,000 within the span of a week after his father was admitted with a minor ailment. But most of these medicines were not used. Given the situation, I was forced to act,” said Ghosh.