After starting telemedicine services at the Central Prisons in Bengaluru and Belagavi recently, the State government will soon introduce the facility at the Central Prison in Mysuru.
The telemedicine service will facilitate jail inmates to consult specialist doctors through videoconference and other telecommunication equipment round the clock.
Superintendent of Central Prison in Mysuru K.C. Divyashree told The Hindu that the State government has released funds. “We will start the facility in one of the existing rooms on the jail premises by installing the infrastructure for dispensing telemedicine. It will be started in a month’s time,” she said.
Once the facility starts, all 1,244 inmates can avail themselves of specialist medical consultation.
At least three or four specialists — one each from Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, NIMHANS, Victoria Hospital and Kidwai Institute of Oncology — will be available for consultation, she said and added that a proposal has also been sent to the government for appointment of nurses on the jail premises here.
“In the first month of its introduction in Bengaluru and Belagavi, 4,000 jail inmates had availed themselves of the telemedicine facility. All of them were outpatients,” said Ms. Divyashree.
For emergencies and follow-up treatment for serious ailments, the jail inmates have to be taken to hospitals by arranging transport and security personnel.
If the facility is introduced in Mysuru, patients needing emergency treatment need not wait till transport and escort is arranged.
Also, the telemedicine facility will address the problem of shortage of escort personnel that the prison is facing to a large extent.
“We need to requisition escort personnel from the City Armed Reserve to accompany inmates not only to hospitals, but also to courts. At least two escort personnel accompany one inmate. So there is always a shortage,” she said.
