Telangana app for COVID-19 patients

HITAM is being tested on a pilot basis

The Telangana government has developed a new application for

COVID-19 patients on home quarantine to avail themselves of the services of private doctors.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, appearing in the Telangana High Court on Tuesday in connection with a clutch of Public Interest Litigation petitions, said the app was being tested on a pilot basis for the past six days.

Christened Home Isolation Tele-medicine and Monitoring (HITAM), the app had already enrolled close to 170 doctors.

Mostly private and retired government doctors were being chosen for this project, said the Chief Secretary, making it clear that the government did not want to disturb in-service doctors. Each doctor was being assigned 50 patients.

“The doctor will prescribe medicines through app messages,” he said.

The doctor would also collect details of the patient’s family members and guide them, Mr. Kumar explained.

It would soon be made available to all citizens.

He described the COVID-19 situation as unprecedented. “Several of my officers and District Collectors were infected while discharging their duties,” he told the court.