PATIENT STORIES
Neeraj Singh, a resident of the Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh was unwell for a couple of days. He was unable to receive immediate treatment due to lack of doctors in his village. Around this time, Arogya Foundation Of India & Ekal Abhiyan India with the support of Intelehealth launched Ekal Arogya Helpline – A free doctor teleconsultation helpline for COVID-related queries and general illnessesNeeraj shares his experience using the Ekal Arogya helpline and how he has fully recovered with the help of free teleconsultation by a remote doctor without travelling to a far-flung city hospital that saved a lot of his money and travel time.
Covid-19 fears forcing many to give vital treatments a miss: Since the onset of the pandemic, many people have been avoiding crucial medical treatment for the fear of contracting Covid-19 at hospitals. Sudha Singh, a resident of Lucknow went through the same ordeal for one month. She had typhoid symptoms, however she feared visiting the hospital due to contracting COVID19. It was around this time that Arogya Foundation Of India & Ekal Abhiyan India with the support of Intelehealth launched Ekal Arogya Helpline – A free doctor teleconsultation helpline for Covid related and general illness queries. Sudha narrates her experience in using Ekal Arogya helpline and how she has fully recovered with the help of teleconsultation.
This pandemic has affected all strata of society in different ways. Today, as we honor our National Doctors, here is a story of Dr. Manju Gupta who faced huge challenges in getting required medical care for her Covid19 infected family members inspite of having good connections within the medical fraternity and hospitals. Reflecting on her struggles, she empathized with what the rural population would be going through. So she came forward to volunteer as a remote doctor for the Ekal Arogya helpline project to help treat, advice, and care for rural patients in her quest to make a difference!
Punith, a resident of Hassan district in Karnataka was unwell for a couple of days. He was unable to receive immediate treatment due to lockdown in the state due to which travelling to the nearest city hospital 14kms away was difficult. Around this time @arogya_foundation & @ekalabhiyaan with the support of Intelehealth launched Ekal Arogya Helpline – A free doctor teleconsultation helpline for COVID-related queries and general illnesses. Punith narrates his experience using the Ekal Arogya helpline and how he has fully recovered with the help of free teleconsultation by a remote doctor that saved a lot of medical and travel costs as well as travel time.
REMOTE DOCTOR STORIES
I am the National President of Ekal Arogya Yojna and currently serving as a volunteer doctor with Inteleheath on the Ekal Arogya Helpline project. This helpline is a great initiative for people who need consultation on COVID-19, vaccine information and general illnesses in multiple languages. As I am based in Gujarat, I have attended to Hindi, Gujarati and English-speaking callers. I have been volunteering on this project for the past 1 and a half months and have attended around 100 calls. I am attending to patients who have issues related to covid symptoms, post covid care, and vaccine-related information. I have advised patients who showed COVID symptoms to do necessary tests, advised home quarantine patients to move to a hospital for immediate treatment whose oxygen levels had dropped.One of the many calls I attended was from a mother with a 10 months old baby who had heart issues (Atrial Septal Defect). The helpless family narrated their fear and worry about how they ran pillar to post visting multiple hospitals for opinions but they were not satisfied with the doctor’s suggestions. Around the same time, they heard about Ekal Arogya helpline and contacted us. I was the remote doctor attending to this family as they expressed their worry about the baby’s health issues. I comforted them and patiently explained to them the entire diagnosis and suggested that the baby get operated to avoid further complications. I also referred them to municipal hospitals in Patna and Ranchi for the best treatment. The family was convinced and agreed to visit one of the hospitals for further treatment. I will be following up with the family for any further help needed.
Dr. Raghunandan Mehta – National President, Ekal Arogya Yojana (AFI) & Volunteer Doctor, Ekal Arogya Hepline“I feel satisfied as a doctor when the patient’s family is convinced with my diagnosis and the case moves further. I appreciate the efforts of team Intelehealth for this amazing, innovative doctors app that is helping so many patients at no cost. The app training given to me was flawless and I found it very simple to use. The team has always been there to support me whenever I had any problems in using the app. I also feel that such helplines will help retired and senior doctors who are unable to travel to hospitals and clinics for consultation. They can make use of this helpline from the confines of their homes and attend to patients especially those in the rural areas who need immediate attention and avoid burdening primary and tertiary hospitals”
Dr. Mehta tele-consulting patients via Ekal Arogya Helpline
