Tele consultations for patients in home isolation take back seat

NEW DELHI: At a time when Delhi’s health care system is swamped by the surge in Covid-19 cases, tele consultation services at several hospitals have taken a hit, with patients in home isolation complaining of overbooked slots and delayed responses from overburdened doctors.

Mahant Ahuja, an Alaknanda resident who tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, said: “I had very mild symptoms — slight fever, cough, and sore throat -during the first two days. We cannot go to hospitals in the present situation, which is why I tried to book an appointment for a virtual consultation. But it took me two days to reach a doctor. I was told that slots were few due to the unavailability of doctors. I’m grateful that my condition did not deteriorate in the meantime but the situation is scary for those having moderate to severe symptoms.”

Several other Covid-19 patients are facing similar issues. Anamika Kapur, a resident of Green Park, said she placed a request for online consultation with a private hospital for her Covid-positive mother on Sunday, and was yet to get a response three days later. “My mother’s oxygen saturation dropped to 70 (anything below 95% is considered worrying) in that time. Finally, we had to contact a general physician providing telemedicine services in my locality to start her treatment,” she said.

Several hospitals and tele consultation providers acknowledged that the raging second wave had hit services. Dr Alexander Kuruvilla, chief health strategy officer of the digital health service Practo, said the number of requests increased five times in the last 20 days.

“There are complaints of unavailability of slots as doctors on board with us are stretched by the situation. It was challenging to respond to the surge, and it takes time to get more doctors on board. The situation is getting better and will further improve in the coming days,” he said.

Officials at a few private hospitals said they will have to step up measures to meet the increasing demand.

Prashant Singh, Director IT, and CIO at Max Healthcare said the number of patients reaching out for tele consultations has surpassed the number of patients seeking physical consultations. “Our doctors are completely occupied with Covid patients... We have shortened each slot so doctors can attend to more patients,” he said.

An official at the tele consultation department at Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital in Dwarka said they have prepared roasters for doctors to divide their time between in-person meets and tele consultations. “We are trying to connect patients with available doctors on the same day. But our doctors are occupied with Covid patients and a few even have Covid cases at home,” said the official.

Independent practitioners are also flooded with tele consultation requests. Dr Rachna Kucheria, a general physician in south Delhi, said, “The number of calls are unprecedented, and the majority of patients have Covid symptoms,” she said.

It took me two days to reach a doctor, and I’m grateful my condition did not worsen in that time

Covid patient in home isolation