SHILLONG: Less than a month after Meghalaya got its first telemedicine facility, the state has already witnessed a success story after doctors in the state were able to perform a complex dental surgery on a patient from West Garo Hills with the able guidance of a U.S. based doctor.
A middle-aged lady in Jengal, West Garo Hills, was in need of an urgent teeth extraction due to pus drainage from between her lower teeth. She suffered swelling over her jaw and chin for a week accompanied with severe pain and it seemed that her condition would worsen into a life-threatening condition called Ludwigs Angina if left untreated.
With COVID-19 and the risk of aerosol transmission, all dental procedures had come to a standstill in many parts of the state thereby limiting emergency health services.
However, doctors at the Garo Hills Adventist Mission Hospital in Tura were determined to provide the required medical attention to the patient.
The telemedicine facility, a brainchild of Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Sampath Kumar and launched recently by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, proved to be a boon for both the patient and the doctors.
A Facial Maxilla Surgeon in the United States, who was acquainted with one of the dentists from Tura, was contacted and the former willingly offered his assistance. The team came together and started a step-by-step procedure with the help of a live camera and through the assistance of the surgeon in the U.S. they successfully provided nerve blocks, drained the pus and extracted three teeth. The patient recovered soon and was discharged.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Tuesday, Kumar said COVID-19 pandemic has provided multiple challenges to the state’s health care system and there is a need to find solutions to overcome them. “We wanted to use technology to provide healthcare access to people in need of medical attention and hence, we came up with the idea of implementing the telemedicine and tele consultation service,” he said.
He said that East Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills have already begun using the telemedicine facility for providing health care services to the people while other districts are preparing to use the facility shortly.