In a bid to make medical checkups and consultations available to the rural population, Narayanpet district along with theTelangana Information Technology Association (TITA) launched a pilot project ‘T- Consult – a Rural Tele-Medicine project’ from Makthal mandal.

The project involves as many as 62 doctors from various fields of specialisation to provide medical consultation services to the rural poor free of cost. The project will be launched in phases. In the first phase, it will be launched in Makthal mandal making it the first mandal in India to have 100 percent access to telemedicine. Around 39 villages are expected to gain the benefits of the service.

Tridandi China Jeeyar Swamy from JIMS institute officially launched the Tele-medicine facility. TheAYUSHdoctors from JIMS institute have contributed significantly to the project. Swamy ji offered free consultation and medicines from JIMSAYUSHCollege for the district.

Hari Chandana Dasari, District Collector, Narayanpet in an interview with a national daily said that under the project, the facility to offer telemedicine services and consultation will be provided in all the 39 gram panchayat offices.

Through the tele-consult facility led by panchayat-level officers, the citizens can book appointments with doctors of their as per their need. In the project, the doctors will interact with patients and also provide prescription which can be had in hard copy format, Dasari explained. Moving forward, the authorities will be putting in efforts to provide citizens, direct interaction through their smartphones, she added.