New Delhi: Department of Neurology AIIMS Delhi has launched a smartphone app namedSmart-India“To provide at low cost Telestroke Services From neurologists and physiotherapists to physicians in district hospitals.
The app connects secondary and peripheral healthcare centers with tertiary care facilities and guides them to provide immediate relief. Using this app, a local resident doctor or physician can send an alert to a neurologist at a connected nodal hospital. Through the chatbox, the neurologist can determine acute management measures with the physiotherapist, who can then alert the local doctor.
Head of Department of Neurology and the brain behind this app Dr. M.V. Padma said, “The aim of this app is to provide immediate help to prevent premature death of people due to stroke. It is not possible for patients to walk 10 km to reach a tertiary healthcare center or to be airlifted. In rural India, where more than two-thirds of the population lives, delivering adequate healthcare is a major challenge. There is an acute shortage of specialists in rural areas with the lowest physician/population ratio in the world.”
In April 2014, the department started a trial run of the WhatsApp Telestroke program in Himachal Pradesh and it was successful. It was extended to some other states like Punjab and Haryana on trial basis.
“I developed a standard operating protocol to be used as a checklist for administering thrombolytic drugs. This training was given to medical staff in Himachal and was a successful model. In fact, acute stroke was first managed by a physician, a non-neurologist, giving IV-thrombolysis,” said Padma.
For pan-India implementation of the service, the Department of Neurology has come up with an app built with the support of ICMR.
The app not only helps in dealing with stroke patients, but also has two more main categories including an education module. A doctor can enter the data of patients treated using the app. Physicians in district hospitals can also be trained through this app to diagnose and manage acute stroke using a low-cost telestroke model.
“We will evaluate the effectiveness of an app-based telestroke model versus a stroke physician model and compare it to a standard of care database maintained concurrently at tertiary nodal centers with neurologists. The results of this study can be used in national programs and become a role model for stroke care delivery in poor countries,” noted Padma.
