Maharashtra Arogya Mandal
Various development works are being done in villages of Ambegaon taluka through village development program by Bharat Forge Ltd. In joint association with Maharashtra Arogya Mandal, Pune.
As a part of this programme, telemedicine clinics are running at Chikhli, Uglewadi and Thakarwadi (Chas) in Ambegaon taluka. The operations of the clinic are by Doorstep Health Services-Pune. They provide telemedicine enabled primary health care services with last mile care delivery.
As a result of these clinics, the common man started getting timely medical aid at a very low cost fin each. Especially children and old people who are unable to travel, get timely treatment in the clinics and their suffering is reduced. Men and women have started getting important information about specific diseases through video meetings, quiz and and interaction with doctors. Some things they learnt are- How to give first aid after snakebite? , How should pregnant women take care of themselves during pregnancy? , How to do different yogasanas and exercises to improve flexibility, and strength? Etc. The scientific information about many such subjects is now slowly changing attitudes and practices of the villagers. Cases with chronic diseases like diabetes and blood pressure have started getting regular follow up and can get medicines for these at discounted prices in the village itself.
The villager have been supported very well by the Telemedicine Clinics.
Telemedicine Project Coordinator – Mr Vikas Ambre-
I am working as a project co-ordinator for the telemedicine project since their inception.
Certain things make these clinics unique and successful.
- Locally Available Resources. The nursing staff belong to the local community. They are familiar with the area and the people. The community too connects well and the staff also feel a sense of oneness with the community. And serve it with enthusiasm. We feel happy, that hardly any nurse leaves us once they join.
- Planning, organizing and Training is given lot of emphasis by management. Detailed telemedicine guidelines have been created along with SOPs. One of my tasks is to ensure and guide so that everyone works by the guidelines.
- Awareness Activities. Improving the health of the community is the overall aim. To this end lot of awareness activities are undertaken. Improvement in knowledge is documented. Sports, quiz competition are other activities.
CPR Training
Sports Day at the Clinic. Learning Healthy Behaviour at a young age
Documentation and records. The telemedicine platform provides all data about all cases seen, their vitals, their history and the medicines they have been issued. This data is valuable for planning , designing and analysing health trends.
Easy Access. During Covid pandemic the easy access and responsiveness of the clinic helped the community. They would come for checking, for Teleconsults and testing for COVID. The Local PHC used it for conducting vaccination camps
Easy Communication. We have a WhatsApp group that is used for a variety of things. Attendance , any occurrence, sending information and notice, feedback, collating statistics and so on. This ensures that we are all always connected and work is done efficiently and effectively.
Infrastructure, Guidance, Support. Bharat Forge ltd has provided excellent infrastructure and support. Tit is only because of them that this initiative is ongoing. The laptops and dongle provided help our staff to go to the homes of people during outreach and connect them to the doctor on telemedicine. This is indeed a novel way to provide healthcare at the doorsteps of people. Medicines are provided by Bharat forge on a monthly basis. They wholeheartedly take part in our healthcare initiatives, visit clinics and monitor progress. This spurs us on.
Dr Leena Deshpande, Head CSR , addressing the Community
At one place during my visit an old person came and said that sir our wadi is about five kilometres from here and it is our last village if you can come there and give us medical help we will be very grateful then I immediately told our directors and requested to provide medical assistance in that wadi. They immediately agreed. Later, the sarpanch of that village and villagers felicitated all the staff in a public gathering. These are all very small things but the happiness on their faces that day was priceless.