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Context: As per the centre, India’s telemedicine service eSanjeevani completes over 14 crore consultations.

About eSanjeevani

• It is the union government's telemedicine application.
• eSanjeevani is an integral part of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDHM), and more than 50, 000 Ayushman Bharat Digital Health IDs have been generated via the eSanjeevani application.
• It provides doctor-to-doctor and patient-to-doctor consultations.
• This application works on a hub and spoke model wherein doctors including specialists provide services to patients in Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) in rural areas.
• People in remote and rural areas can also avail of services through the OPD module of eSanjeevani.

Variants of eSanjeevani

• eSanjeevani service is available in two variants:
  • The eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health Wellness Centre (AB-HWC)
  • eSanjeevani OPD.

Both versions – eSanjeevani AB-HWC and eSanjeevani OPD have been integrated with the ABDM platform.

The eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health Wellness Centre (AB-HWC)

• Through The Doctor-to-Doctor telemedicine service, the beneficiaries visiting an HWC can virtually connect to doctors/ specialists in the Hub that could be at a tertiary healthcare facility/hospital/medical college.
• This enables the government to provide general and specialised health services in rural areas and isolated communities.

The eSanjeevani OPD service

• The National Teleconsultation Service of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the first of its kind online OPD service offered by a country's government to its citizens.
• National Teleconsultation Service aims to provide healthcare services to patients in their homes.
• Safe & structured video-based clinical consultations between a doctor in a hospital and a patient in the confines of his home are being enabled.
• Through eSanjeevani OPD, anyone can seek medical advice and medication through audio and video. With the introduction of this service, people living in the remotest areas will also be able to get their health-related consultation.
• Process of online consultation

Digital health initiatives by the government

Financial assistance under National Health Mission:

• The Union Health Ministry provides financial assistance to all states/UTs under National Health Mission for strengthening health IT infrastructure and internet connectivity.

Swasth:

• It is a coalition of over 100 healthcare specialists in the private sector for launching a telemedicine application which aims to deliver equitable and affordable healthcare to all Indians, by cutting across geographical and income barriers.
• It is an open-source platform built with interoperability principles that comply with the Government’s National Digital Health Mission.
• The application facilitates smooth, remote interaction among registered medical practitioners and patients through multiple modes of video and telephony.
• e-Hospital Management System tracks the delivery of patient care and diagnostic services.

Mera Aspataal initiative:

• The Mera Aspataal initiative notes patient feedback for the services received by them in the hospital.

TB Missed Call initiative:

• The TB Missed Call initiative is a mobile service for providing treatment and counselling to TB patients.

The Kilkari application:

• The Kilkari application through which the Government delivers free messages every week pertaining to pregnancy and child care between the second trimester of pregnancy until the child is one year old.

M-Cessation app:

• The M-Cessation app encourages people to quit tobacco use.

Aarogya Setu:

• It was launched at the behest of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure effective contact tracing. It allows people to assess their risk of contracting the infection based on their location and interactions with others.

CoWIN Application:

• The CoWIN Application is a repository of all vaccination-related data. It is a platform to register for various vaccines.

Other initiatives

• The Nikshay platform for tracking TB patients
• Mother and Child Tracking System for monitoring pregnant women and children under five years of age
• The Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre portal for overseeing the delivery of comprehensive primary healthcare services through Health and Wellness centres across the country.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/aug/01/indias-telemedicine-service-esanjeevani-completes-over-14-crore-consultations-center-2600912.html