Dial 104 for medical queries

The much-awaited 24/7 Health Information Helpline (HIHL), Arogya Vani, was unveiled by health minister UT Khader in Hubli on Wednesday.

The government has entered into an agreement with Hyderabad-based Health Management and Research Institute, to setup the helpline service bearing the number 104.

According to M Madan Gopal, principal secretary of health and family welfare department, HIHL has been setup to assist people, mainly those residing in rural areas, who face difficulties in accessing qualified doctors. The helpline will ensure that people get basic information about medical facilities and is equipped with details of 2,310 primary health centres and registered hospitals.

Apart from the contact details of the nearest hospitals, callers can avail of prescriptions for minor ailments from the service. All that one has to do to avail of the prescription is make a call to the helpline from a mobile phone and it will be sent to the phone via SMS.

The call centre is also expected to become a strategy-making centre to tackle mass illnesses like cholera, chikungunya, dengue etc. If a centre receives five or more calls from a particular area or a village stating symptoms of the same disease, it will automatically alert the district health officer and district administration about the illness, to tackle the issue beforehand.

The helpline will also act as a grievance centre by receiving complaints on unavailability of medicines, machines or any other facilities at government hospitals. Callers can also lodge complaints like negligence of staff or bribery cases over the helpline.

In addition, 104 can be approached even during natural calamities. The helpline is also linked to the 108 ambulance service. Presently, 100 work stations are installed in the centre, and together, about 1,300 calls can be received per day.

The number of work stations will be increased to 300, to receive about 10,000 calls per day.