The Jan Aushadhi Centre in Meerut has started a videoconferencing facility for patients so that they can easily avail the doctor’s services.

With a view to encouraging the telemedicine facility, applications were sought from the Jan Aushadi centres by the health ministry and the IT ministry. The centre in Meerut applied and got the facility.

Here, the patients can consult Allopathic doctors for a fee of Rs 100 while Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic doctors charge Rs 50 each.

Sachin Kumar Gupta, manager, Jan Aushadhi Centre, said that the telemedicine facility is made available only at places where both Jan Seva Centres and Jan Aushadhi Centres coexist. As soon as the ministry sought applications, they applied. Their application was accepted and they promptly started the telemedicine facility.

The advantage of this facility is that patients no longer will have to wait for long hours for a doctor or pay a huge sum as consultation fee. They will be able to seek the doctor’s services from the control room where the doctor sits, via video conferencing.

Gupta said that after the consultation with the doctor, patients can download the prescription from the computer directly and buy the medicines.