No docs & net: Haryana conducted only 12% e-medicine sessions so far this year

GURGAON: Use of eSanjeevani — a tele-consultation platform for doctors launched by the Centre in 2019 — in the state has dwindled. According to data from the health department, the state has carried out only 12.3% of its targeted sessions. While Haryana had set the target of 4,10,400 consultations, it was able to conduct around 50,500 between January till August this year.

The Union health ministry launched eSanjeevani to provide doctors in primary health centres and rural hospitals access to specialised opinions from medical colleges and tertiary care hospitals. More than 400 government doctors across the state, including 33 from Gurgaon, are registered on the portal.
According to government data, Gurgaon tops the chart as it has achieved 100% of its target of consultations, followed by Faridabad (45.4%), Hisar and Kurukshetra (33.5%), and Panchkula (27.2%).
Rewari is at the bottom of the chart with just 0.1% consultations, followed by Rohtak (0.2%), Panipat (0.7%), Kaithal (1.9%) and Charkhi Dadri (4.9%).
A community health worker in Faridabad said, “Patients are usually not aware of eSanjeevani. Most of the time, there is no doctor available online.”
Internet connectivity is also an issue. “Some health centres in rural areas don’t have internet, and thus are unable to conduct online consultations,” said Laxman Kumar, a health worker.
Meanwhile, Gurgaon had set the target of 10,800 sessions, and exceeded it at 10,814. District nodal officer Shalini Gupta said she sends a schedule for specific consultation days each week to all centres so that doctors are aware of each specialist’s availability. “If the doctors are not aware about which specialist is available online, it defeats the purpose of the service,” she said.