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Healthcare through cellphone comes at Rs 45

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Aircel and Apollo Hospitals, which announced on Wednesday the launch of their round-the-clock healthcare facility through mobile phone, called Tele Triage, said the service would be available for Rs 45 per consultation. This service will become operable in all circles where Aircel has operation around the first week of this November.

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“Most of the people hesitate to even wake up people at home in the wee hours of the day to take them to the doctor. Tele Triage will end this issue. Through this service, the patient will be able to access immediate consultation of Apollo health experts even at the wee hours. The service will be available round the clock,” said Dr. Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, on the occasion of launching the service.

The payment will be made by deduction of Rs 45 from the balance of the Aircel pre-paid customer and in case of post-paid customers, the amount will be charged in the bill.

“Any subscriber will be able to avail the service by dialing short code during any time of the day. He will be connected with health experts for immediate consultation,” said Gurdeep Singh, chief operating officer, Aircel.

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Singh mentioned that a patient will not be charged for subsequent calls if, for any reason, the conversation between the patient and the health expert is not completed.

“We have the best network. By any fraction of probability if the call drops or for any other reason the conversation is not complete, then the caller will not be charged for making subsequent calls. The call will be ended by the health expert with whom the communication is being carried,” explained Singh.

Singh mentioned that it will be Aircel’s responsibility to ferry all calls to Apollo health experts for quick access of the service.

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Aircel and Apollo Hospitals will also jointly establish tele-medicine centres in select Aircel outlets around the country, as well as through franchisee model by third party.

“There are shortages of medical services in rural areas. There are six doctors per 1000 people in the country and 860 beds per one million patients. Tele medicine is an invaluable tool in health care as it helps patients to get services from doctors even in remote areas without the need of the patient’s physical presence at the doctor’s clinic.

The patient data is collected through various processes like history, data-entry, biometrics and integration of medical equipment. The data is stored and shared between health care professionals to diagnose, treat and follow up — be it regular treatment, post-surgery or something else. This facility will be set up by Aircel and Apollo in both urban as well as rural area,” elaborated Singh.

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HealthNet Global will also be involved in developing and facilitating medical applications on tele medicine and Tele Triage platform.

“We have plans to take health care to the doorstep of the people. Soon there will be smartphones that can measure the patient’s blood pressure and other vital health profile, which will be transmitted to the health expert online and help him make precise diagnosis,” said Charles Antony, CEO, HealthNet Global.

Reddy mentioned that this is just the beginning of a new path-breaking step and other stakeholders like insurance companies and others would join the mission once it touches the taste of success.

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