Helpline for COVID-19 patients in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur districts
The 24-hour helpline, 8939911411, is an initiative of the IMA, Vellore department and CMC, with the help of alumni from VIT
To assist and information COVID-19 patients in Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupathur districts, docs from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Vellore department, Christian Medical College (CMC) and alumni of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), have come collectively to begin a distant helpline referred to as IMAi (eyelids).
The 24-hour helpline quantity, 8939911411, with the tagline ‘We Care, We Are There’ was began on May 19 and has attended to over 2,000 calls up to now. A complete of 80 volunteers and 36 docs from IMA and CMC are a part of this initiative.
“We all work from homes or hospitals. Every three hours, the shift changes and in each shift there are three volunteers and two doctors,” stated T. Madan Mohan, president, Vellore IMA.
Dr. Madan, together with S. Narmada mission coordinator and IMA, Vellore vp and T. Nailesh, secretary, IMA Vellore, conceived of the mission. “Our aim is to help and guide patients who have tested COVID-19 positive. Once they call the helpline, they will be guided by an IVRS until a volunteer attends the call and answers their queries. If the caller needs help regarding medicines, the doctor will take over and guide them,” stated Dr. Madan.
An app was developed by Thryve Digital for efficient functioning of the decision centre, and VIT alumni provided the technical help and created consciousness materials. “All calls are routed through the call centre and sent to the doctors and volunteers on duty. The calls are mostly for bed and oxygen requirements, ambulance help, food and home quarantine support and vaccination,” stated Jayashree Lakshman, a member of IMA.
The docs have a WhatsApp group with one nodal particular person from each hospital in the mixed Vellore district. “We first understand the condition of the patient. Only if he/she is in dire need of an oxygen bed, do we coordinate with the partner hospital on bed availability and guide him/her there. Otherwise we advise home quarantine. This reduces rush in the hospitals too,” stated Dr. Madan.
The docs and volunteers additionally create consciousness on COVID-19 vaccination.