A private hospital in the city has partnered with hospitals in districts to set up smart intensive care units (ICUs), which will enable specialist doctors in Kolkata to check parameters of a patient in the remote location and advise how to manage the patient.
Medica Superspecialty Hospital, which runs smart ICUs at its Kolkata and Siliguri units, has partnered with private hospitals in Bankura, Bardhaman, Kulpi and Joynagar (both in South 24-Parganas district) and Falakata in Alipurduar to set up such ICUs in the districts.
Aviral Roy, senior consultant (internal medicine and critical care) at Medica, said smart ICUs would help provide better healthcare in remote areas. Patients from rural areas often have to travel hundreds of kilometres to Kolkata to consult a specialist.
“We are leveraging technology to give better care to patients in remote areas,” he said.
Roy said cardiac patients, often in a critical condition, have to suffer the rigour of travelling hundreds of kilometres to get treated by a specialist at a Kolkata hospital.
In a smart ICU, the patient’s health parameters will be digitised. A specialist doctor sitting in Kolkata will be able to see the parameters. The specialist will also talk to the doctor in the remote hospital who has spoken to the patient and his or her family.
“After hearing about the patient’s history of illness and going through the parameters, the doctor in Kolkata can advise the management of the patient,” said Roy. The patient does not need to travel to Kolkata.
Cloudphysician, a Bangalore-based healthcare company, is providing the technology to Medica and the partner hospitals to set up smart ICUs.
“A smart ICU also has a system of sending alerts to a doctor in case there is an abnormality in the patient’s parameters,” said Dileep Raman, a co-founder of Cloudphysician.