The ‘104’ medical helpline operated by the GVK EMRI and Tamil Nadu Government benefited 2.18 lakh people between April 2016 and March this year across the State. Statistics provided by GVK EMRI showed that people have started to make use of the free helpline service for organ donation too.
Since 2015, the helpline service could coordinate 60 eye donations for transplantation and eight whole body donations to medical institutions for academic purposes.
Launched in December 2013, the 24-hour service provides information related to health and healthcare delivery system. According to officials with GVK EMRI in Coimbatore, on an average the helpline attends 343 calls per one lakh population across the State.
“Majority of the calls received are related to tele-counselling and tele-health advice. People have increasingly started to use the service for blood donation related queries and organ donation. In Coimbatore alone, the helpline could facilitate one whole body donation and 12 eye donations,” said V. Muthukrishnan, programme manager for GVK EMRI here.
Under tele–counselling service in the helpline, professional psychologists give counselling sessions to callers undergoing relationship conflicts, suicidal ideation, depression and psychosexual problems. Counselling is also offered to students by experts.
The service coordinates legally bound blood and organ donation through timely harvest and effective preservation by an authorised institution.
Under tele-advocacy, the helpline offers guidance to people on Government health facilities and the welfare schemes. The tele-portal service in the helpline can be used to register complaints pertaining to health and healthcare facilities.
Mr. Muthukrishnan said that an awareness programme about the service will be held at the Collectorate on July 17 to spread information about the service to more people.
