Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department P. Senthurpandian distributed mobile phones, meant for round-the-clock toll-free ‘104 medical service on phone’, to doctors in government service in the district on Sunday.
The public can get medical advice from qualified doctors or register their complaints about the general hospitals or primary health centres (PHCs) in case of deficient service by calling the number ‘104’.
As one makes the call to ‘104’, the Registration Officer will receive it and give a registration number for the call after getting the caller’s details. Based on the caller’s requirement, the call will be diverted to the Health Advice Officer, Counsellor, Service Development Officer or the Medical Officer and appropriate health advice given.
If the caller was in need of a psychologist’s assistance, it will also be given over the phone. All calls and counselling details or complaints will be recorded and forwarded to the higher-ups in the Department of Public Health for further action.
“Since medical officers and nurses will be on duty round-the-clock at General Hospitals and Upgraded PHCs, the callers can get information or medical assistance required day and night. In the Additional Primary Health Centres, nurses will be on duty round-the-clock while the doctors will be available between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Hence, the public can get medical advice from these places by calling 104 anytime,” said the officials.
This service would be of great help to the public, especially to pregnant women, as they could get medical advice over phone for free. If the situation demanded, the ‘108 ambulance’ would be sent to the spot to shift the patient to the nearby hospital as adequate provision for this facility had been made in ‘104 mobile phone medical service’ too, they noted.
This facility would be of great help to HIV/AIDS patients and the persons suffering from extreme depression as qualified counsellors would guide them with suitable advice, the officials added.
District Revenue Officer P. Uma Maheshwari, Sankarankovil MLA S. Muthuselvi, Joint Director of Medical Services M. Ravi Kala, Deputy Director of Health Services S. Subramanian and others were present.
