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Hundreds in Kashmir throng Amrita Hospital’s medical relief camp

12 Oct 2014, Bandipore, Jammu Kashmir

Hundreds of Kashmir’s flood-victims thronged the medical relief camp set up by Amrita Hospital in Bandipore district of Jammu and Kashmir. A team of 15 medical specialists and paramedics are providing critical medical care to flood victims in the worst-affected areas of the district including Ashtingoo Ghat, Kulhama, Laharwalpora and Sumbal-Sonawari. Over 2,300 people of these areas have been examined and dispensed with medicines.

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A mobile hospital and tele medicine unit is equipped with intensive care unit, ventilator, ECG, Colour Echo cardiogram, X-Ray Radiography, Light Microscopy with the team are providing advanced pathological support.

About 52 villages in Bandipore district was completely submerged in last months massive floods and hundreds of houses, several health facilities, schools and police stations were submerged in the floods, besides damaging standing crops in hundreds of hectares. According to the Divisional Commissioner Dr. Shah Faesal, 60,000 people were displaced in the floods, while dozens of families are still living in tents on roads and safer areas. Over 2,000 houses were completely damaged in the district.

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The medical camp, which began on 8th will continue till 13th October in Bandipore district, while during the second phase, it will shift to Magam in Badgam district of Kashmir.

 

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Home Minister flagged off Amrita Tele Medicine van to Jammu Kashmir

06 Oct 2014, New Delhi
Victims of the recent Kashmir floods will receive state-of-the-art medical aid from the Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM), as two mobile units equipped with health and relief facilities were flagged off from the capital by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

 

Hailing ‘Amma’  as humanitarian icon for her charity activities, the minister said the government has made efforts to support the Math’s Rs 25-crore mission in the Valley to ensure a coordinated operation.

“Amma is an ocean of compassion striving for the betterment of humanity,” he said, before flagging off a mobile medical facility and a mobile tele-medicine unit from India Gate. Amidst the cheering of volunteers and supporters chanting aloud ‘Mata Amritanandamayi Ki Jai’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, the two vehicles moved out to Srinagar..

Earlier, the minister took a round of both the units and interacted with the contingent that includes 14 doctors and paramedical staff, who will reach Srinagar on Wednesday and work mostly in Bandipora district that was battered by the Jhelum floods this monsoon season.

MAM had last month distributed school kits for children in Udhampur district of the Valley, where the Math would also be constructing houses for people affected by the September floods triggered by torrential rains.

Amrita Hospital flags off medical relief to flood-hit in Jammu – Kashmir

Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) is sending its disaster management and mobile Telemedicine unit to Jammu-Kashmir to provide medical care to people affected by the recent floods.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Sing will flag off Amrita Hospital’s Telemedicine unit at 9am on this Sunday 5th Oct at India Gate, New Delhi.

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The mobile medical facility is equipped with Colour Echo Cardiography, Gastroscopy, Retinal Camera, Ultra Sonography, X-Ray Radiography, Ventilator, Minor Operation theatre, Delivery Room facility, Electro Cardiography, Light Microscopy, Digital Photography and Bio Chemical Testing with a semi-auto Analyzer to analyse Hepatitis B, Rat Fever or Leptospirosis, etc.

A team of medical experts from the departments of General Medicine, General Surgery, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Radiology are there in the team. They will provide vaccinations like DPT, Polio, MMR, and Hepatitis B at the relief sites.

A team of Veterinary doctors with medicines and vaccinations for animals are also part of the team.

The centrally air conditioned Telemedicine Unit van is equipped with satellite-based video conferencing facility. It is also supported by two emergency ambulances, equipped with cardiac facilities, trained medical team and adequate medicines. These ambulance can travel to interior places where the Telemedicine van cannot reach.

The output from these devises can be transmitted to Amrita specialty hospital for expert opinion or any health care center that has a Telemedicine facility. It is also equipped with Amrita Health Information System. Using all these facilities expert doctors can directly see the patient, diagnose the disease and start emergency medical management.

Amrita Institute for Medical Sciences has been in the forefront of rendering free medical care to people hit by natural disasters across the country. During Gujarat Earthquake 2001, Tsunami in 2004, Bihar flood in 2008, Andhra-Karnataka flood in 2009, and Kedarnath (Uttarakhand) landslides in 2013 where the mobile Telemedicine unit along with disaster management team had rendered exclusive medical relief services to the affected people. A total 548 medical camps were conducted by the Amrita mobile Telemedicine unit in the last seven years.

Telemedicine to Andamans

Dr Chithra, Dept of Psychiatry

March 25th 2009 marked the beginning of the telemedicine connectivity between Amrita health care center at Shadipur Port Blair, Andamans and Amrita Institute of Medical Science, Kochi. Thousands of people were benefited with this initiative.

Live tele consultation with Amrita Health Care, Andaman. Dcotors from AIMS in the inset

Patients needing specialized care located at Andamans were provided with treatment advice, second opinion, follow-up care etc with the help of this telemedicine facility. Within a year approximately 3000 patients –more than 8 patients a day– tele-consultations to Amrita health center at Andamans were provided from AIMS.

This service has helped in preventing unnecessary patient referrals to distant hospitals located at the mainland thus avoiding huge travel cost for patients. This initiative has brought out better health outcome for patients and also helped in attaining higher level of confidence in the community’s local  health care system.

Dr Joel, Dept of Dermatology
Dr B Pradeep, Dept of General Surgery
Dr Rajesh, Dept of Pulmonary
Dr Vijayamohan, Dept of Orthopaedics

Amrita Telemedicine connects to PAN-African network

The Telemedicine network at Amrita Institute of Medical Science has begun extending its services beyond India’s borders. On May 4, 2009, it became part of the India’s PAN-African telemedicine network.

Though this telemedicne network, Amrita will provide e-health services to Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Seychelles. Medical consultation in various medical specialties will be made available to care centers and hospitals in these rural areas. Through a satellite and fiber optic network, it will be able to reach out to remote and rural areas in need.

The inaugural telecast was that of a CME (Continuing Medical Education) session, for doctors in the rural centers of Africa. The topic — Infectious Diseases, Prevention and Control. Dr. Girish, General Medicine interacted with doctors in 13 countries on the African continent as he shared his insights and knowledge from Amrita. “We have long aspired to this goal –Digital health to every doorstep– ” he stated. “I am happy that after Amma’s visit, we are now able to serve the African people in yet another manner.”

PAN-African e-network is a Government of India initiative. The network’s main aim is to provide adequate educational facilities and affordable healthcare eventually in all 53 nations of the African Union. This idea was proposed by the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, at the inaugural session of the PAN-African parliament held at Johannesburg in 2004.

Bihar Flood: Medical Service

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In response to the Bihar flood, AIMS Hospital dispatched teams of specialists and paramedics who treated more than 400 patients daily, sometimes seeing to more than 500. Not only did the doctors treat wounds, respiratory problems like pneumonia and fungal growths, they also delivered several babies. Ambulances and a Mobile Telemedicine Unit were also dispatched. A temporary hospital was maintained in Supaul for one month. The medical team remained in Bihar for more than two months, treating 50,000 people through 100 medical camps. Rs. 30 lakh [$70,000 US] in medicine was provided.

Bihar Floods: Telemedicine

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Two state–of-the art ambulances were sent to the area via rail from Kochi, a total of distance of almost 2,500 km. One of these was AIMS Hospital’s Mobile Telemedicine Unit. It is the size of a city bus and includes X-ray facilities, ECG scanner, pathology-lab-work facility, specialty cardiac services and a telemedicine satellite link with AIMS Hospital. It was first used in MAM’s tsunami-relief work in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Bihar flood relief: Supaul photos

4 Oct 2008, Supaul, Bihar
Four more temporary shelters were constructed at Supaul for the flood affected in Bihar. Supaul is the worst flood affected area. Dr. Sarvan Kumar IAS, the district collector inaugurated the temporary shelters.

The Tele-medicine van is going around the villages and the doctors use it to do joint diagnosis of patients with doctors in AIMS. The vast range of equipment is proving to be godsend.