Nagpur: Taking a giant stride on medical services front through digital network, some seriously ill patients in Sub-District Hospital of Fetri village near Nagpur were treated by doctors of Mumbai’s Apollo Hospital through telemedicine. This feat was made possible by the digital network facilities set up at the Fetri hospital by US networking giant Cisco. Fetri Village has been adopted by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis under MLA Adarsh Gram Yojana. With the Cisco initiative, extending best medical treatment to patients suffering from serious ailments in rural areas has become a reality. The telemedicine treatment system was inaugurated by the Chief Minister through videoconferencing on Wednesday.
The beginning was made by Apollo doctors who treated patients of Fetri Sub-Health Centre. Present on the occasion were District Collector Sachin Kurve, CEO Dr Kadambari Balkawde, District Planning Officer Krushna Firke, District Health Officer Dr Savai, Education Officer Dipendra Lokhande, Sarpanch, Gram Sevaks and others.
The Cisco has set up its sophisticated machinery at Fetri Hospital under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds.
Directly interacting with the patients, the Mumbai Apollo Hospital Cardiologists Dr Sanjay Kapote and Dr Bhansali scanned all the reports through telemedicine and guided the treatment to be administered to the patients. Through this treatment system, the ECG, BP, Sugar and other vital parameters of patients can be checked through machines set up by Cisco and the expert doctors can directly see the reports and decide the course of treatment immediately.
The Chief Minister on the occasion directed the concerned authorities to avail the services expert doctors also from Mumbai’s J J Hospital, Hinduja Hospital, as well as Nagpur’s Government Medical College and Hospital for telemedicine treatment of patients in rural areas across the district.
CM interacts with students through digital networking:
The Chief Minister Fadnavis directly interacted with students of Fetri school through videoconferencing, a facility made possible by digital networking facility. Fadnavis informed students about the finer points of digital network in providing excellent services in medical as well as in education field. “This facility gives momentum to development in both the fields,” the CM told students. During the interaction, Fadnavis answered the questions put up by the students freely and candidly. Replying to questions posed by Antrika Verma, Kashish Bahadure, Arman Dongre, and Pournima Kshirsagar, Fadnavis said, “Whatever you do, do it with full self-confidence and vigour. Use the knowledge for yourself and for others too in the society. We have to set up the digital network facility in all the schools of state as well as in the country,” the CM declared.
Fadnavis further informed the students that wi-fi facility will soon be provided in Fetri village that has been adopted by him under MLA Adarsh Gram Yojana.
Earlier, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Maharashtra is in the process of setting up the information technology infrastructure with fibre optic network, which can roll out multiple digital applications, and connect 29,000 gram panchayats by 2018 at an investment of approximately Rs. 5,000 crore under the MaharashtraNet programme.
After digitally inaugurating Cisco’s manufacturing plant in Pune, at Taj Hotel, Fadnavis said the government will rope in Cisco and some other companies to set up a special purpose vehicle for creating the information, communications technology backbone for digital connectivity. “Maharashtra is set to become the first State to have all its villages connected digitally.”
Cisco, which participated in the Make in India campaign, set up its second largest global manufacturing hub in Pune, which is expected to begin manufacturing routers and switches in early 2017. The U.S. technology giant announced initiatives to help digital transformation of the State, which includes roll-out of broadband infrastructure, creating citizen-centric services through smart city framework for Nagpur, setting up digital learning and eCommerce hub in Dharavi, and establishing 25 Cisco networking academies to train 10,000 students.
The Chief Minister said the smart city framework for his home town in Nagpur could become the model for the smart cities plan across the country. “The information technology backbone being set up in Nagpur is unique, and it could become the prototype for the rest of the country.” Cisco plans to integrate transport, solid waste management, lighting, parking, and environmental sensors on Cisco’s City Digital platform, the company said.
