As people are slowly getting adjusted to life under lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, anxiety levels are mounting for some about access to medical care for other ailments.
Most people go to the OPDs of corporate hospitals for any health issue rather than the ‘over-crowded’ government hospitals. Now, the government advisory to discourage crowds at OPDs for some time did unnerve families with senior citizens and chronic patients.
When this concern was presented to corporate hospitals, their response was clear — OPDs are not closed and people can still walk in though telemedicine facility is available in every major hospital. People themselves have stopped coming to OPDs unless the health condition demands physical examination, they said.
Group president of Apollo Hospitals Hari Prasad said that those with health issues that need consultation in person must come to hospital. But, those who can consult a doctor over telephone should make use of Apollo’s telemedicine facility.
“Apollo Hospital at Jubilee Hills gets 150 to 200 tele-consults per day. The footfall to OPDs have come down by 40% to 45%,” he said.
Director of Yashoda Hospitals Group Abhinav said that OPD now was mainly for patients with chronic ailments.
Bhaskar Rao of KIMS said they were practising telemedicine even before crisis.
