Karnataka to extend TeleICU facilities to 60 taluk hospitals

The Health Department has a plan to connect an additional 60 taluk-level spoke hospitals with four more district-level hospitals serving as hubs under the second phase of the TeleICU program in 2024-25, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said here on Friday.

He was speaking after the launch of two new Tele ICU hubs — one at the Trauma Care Centre at Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru and another at the Ballari District Hospital. These hubs will enable critical care specialists to extend advisory services remotely to 20 hospitals in Bengaluru (9) and Kalaburagi-Ballari (11) divisions, he added.

The TeleICU programme is being undertaken through a public-private partnership (PPP) model with the eGovernments Foundation. With the addition of these two hubs to the already functioning Hubballi and Mysuru TeleICU hubs, specialised care will reach a total of 41 taluk-level spoke hospitals, Rao explained. “The ICUs in these taluk hospitals have high-resolution cameras fixed so that specialists sitting at the hub hospitals can continuously monitor each patient’s vitals and health parameters and advise doctors as required,” said Dr Vijayakumar H N, Nodal officer for TeleICU, Bengaluru Hub, and Critical Care Medicine Professor at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute.

“If patients can get quality treatment and specialist care at the 10-bed ICUs in each of these taluk hospitals, it will also reduce the pressure on district hospitals and medical colleges,” the minister added.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar praised the initiative’s efforts to expand quality care to far flung rural areas. “This is a revolutionary step in the field of health. This system of setting up 5-10 bed ICUs at the taluk-level to admit patients immediately and monitor their health from here should be launched everywhere,” he said. Deccan Herald