New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) The Safdarjung Hospital administration will start the country's first online critical care follow-up clinic for patients discharged from the ICU who can get doctors' advice as they recover further in their homes.
The online follow-up clinic will be available via an e-Sanjivani OPD portal from 10 am to 11 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, an official statement said. The portal will be inaugurated by hospital director, Dr Sandeep Bansal, on Saturday.
Patients and their families can log in to the portal and get critical care consultation from the hospital, it said.
"In India, ICU follow-up and critical care are extremely necessary because many of our patients come from very distant places. They travel from far-off areas, and once they return home after treatment, it becomes very difficult for them to come back again for follow-up visits," said Dr Anirban Hom, Head of Critical Care at Safdarjung Hospital.
"We also know that these patients are often not fully capable after discharge and require some support... Through this system, they will be able to contact us directly online. This will allow us to assess the problem they are facing and determine how serious it is," he said.
Hom said the hospital will then decide whether their treatment can be managed from their homes or not. It is likely to benefit thousands of patients discharged from the ICU, he said.