New Delhi, May 7 (FN Bureau) The Ministry of Defence on Friday informed that ex-Defence doctors will now provide online consultation on ‘e-Sanjeevani OPD’ to all citizens of the country. Announcing the decision,the MoD said that the Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) Surgeon Vice Admiral Rajat Datta addressed the veterans who have come forward to offer their services, through videoconferencing on May 7. This service can be availed by any civilian on the website https://esanjeevaniopd.in/.
The e-Sanjeevani OPD is a flagship telemedicine platform of the Government, developed by the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Mohali under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). It provides free consultations to Indian citizens and is functioning extremely well. However, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the demand for doctors is up while the supply has reduced as doctors are being pulled out for COVID ward duties. This is where the defence veterans are stepping in to help, officials in Defence Ministry said . The Medical Branch of HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) is providing telemedicine service for the serving and retired defence personnel and has coordinated with MoHFW and NIC to roll out this Ex-Defence OPD for civilian patients.
Deputy Chief IDS (Medical) Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar has urged the fraternity of retired AFMS doctors to join this platform and provide valuable consultation to the citizens when the country is going through a difficult time. There has been a good response from the retired defence doctors and more are expected to join soon. Subsequently, a separate nation-wide Ex-Defence Doctors OPD is envisaged. Their vast experience and expertise will help the larger clientele to obtain consultation from their homes and tide over the current situation, the MoD said in a statement.