Amid covid19, doctors treat patients through online medium

When Nayeem Ahmad suffered severe headache accompanied by high blood pressure, he could not venture outside to seek medical advice due to the ongoing lockdown.

A worried Ahmad then through a contact came across a helplinemobile application of Doctors’ Association of Kashmir (DAK) where he consulteda doctor on Whatsapp messenger.

   

Ahmad is among 7605 patients who have used this applicationin last two weeks.  “As the OPDs of majorhospitals are shut and private doctors unavailable, I found myself in a fix.But my friend advised me to seek help through online medium, where a doctorgave me medicines,” Ahmad said adding “he download DAK helpdesk app from thewebsite JKDAK.in.”

The helpline has come as handy for patients who are gettingtreatment without having to venture outside their homes. “I also consulted adoctor through this helpline and showed him my wife’s USG report throughmessenger. The doctor suggested some medicines and it saved me from venturingoutside amid lockdown,” said Muhammad Ismail, a Srinagar resident.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, President, DAK, Dr Suhail Naiksaid the idea of helpline based treatment is replica of western model. “This ishelping us in two ways by reducing burden on healthcare infrastructure andminimizing risk of exposure to corona scare.”The Association,however, decried continuous ban on high-speed internet connectivity inKashmir.  “When the corona scare hastaken world by storm, medicos in west are providing treatment through videocalls. But unfortunately Kashmir continues to face ban on the high speedinternet. We are handicapped to provide treatments through video calls. Besideslectures by renowned medicos on treatment to covid-19 patients which areavailable online, also could not be accessed by doctors in Kashmir due thisban.”

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