India’s First Swine Flu Health Call Center at Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai

The first Swine Flu Health Call Centre by Apollo Hospitals for India, inaugurated in Madurai by Honorable Union Minister Mr.M K Azhagiri has received an overwhelming response. This swine flu call center provides information to public about the lethal viral infection. The call center also provides answers to the queries of the people regarding the lethal condition. Over 800 calls have been received till date from several districts including Chennai. The Honorable Minister appreciated the initiative and commented that it satisfied a deep felt need of the community. This is totally a free service manned by qualified health care professionals and the team consists of 12 trained Medical, Paramedical, Nursing & Support Service staff and it functions 24×7.

For countries like India where there is a huge rural-urban healthcare divide exists, telehealth platforms such as tele-triage, telemedicine plays a pivotal role in complementing the conventional healthcare delivery mechanism, as the technology evolves and the acceptance of such platforms by masses increases – as evidenced in some of the states in south. Health Net Global with expertise in technology in collaboration with Clinical Solutions, UK together has brought this ground breaking healthcare service quickly to the citizens of Tamilnadu.

Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai brings to the table, the expertise of Asia’s largest health care provider in executing the initiative seamlessly. After the launch the public is more aware of the symptoms of swine flu and also feel comfortable to enquire without any hesitation. The service provided in a multilingual environment including the local language is an advantage to the society. It is available to citizens using a browser based application over the internet or touch tone telephony so as to cater the maximum number of people through a multi channel approach.