New Delhi, March 13 The Safdarjung Hospital administration will launch the country's first online critical care follow-up clinic for patients discharged from the ICU who can receive doctors' advice as they continue to recover at home.
The online follow-up clinic will be available through an e-Sanjivani OPD portal from 10 am to 11 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, according to an official statement. The portal will be inaugurated by hospital director, Dr Sandeep Bansal, on Saturday.
Patients and their families can log in to the portal and receive critical care consultation from the hospital, it said.
"In India, follow-up care and critical care are extremely important 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 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 recovered 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. He believes this will benefit thousands of patients discharged from the ICU.