On 22nd April 2020, The chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yediyurappa in presence of senior ministers and officials launched “Apthamitra” helpline toll free number and an application to empower the people to fight against coronavirus pandemic. The app provides required medical guidance for the people in need.
Key points:
i.The Apthamithra helpline will provide service from 8 AM to 8 PM, with four helpline centers in Bangalore, one center in Mysore and one in Bantwal, Mangalore with a capacity of 300 seats.
ii.The 14410 – Helpline will cover all parts of the state,The Apthamitra is a two tier system with AYUSH (Ayurvedic, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) or nursing and pharma final year student volunteer as the first tier and the MBBS, integrated Medicine or AYUSH from the respective locations as the second tier for risk assessment, counselling, telemedicine and referral for testing and treatment.
iii.The helpline is to reach out to people in the corona hotspot areas and to identify the Influenza Like illness (ILI), Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SERI) and the corona like symptoms.
iv.To identify the people with low risk and having symptoms similar to corona and support them with OTC (Over the Counter ) medicine through telemedicine and counsel for self-quarantine and for those with medium or high risk of infection the system supports in getting them to the fever clinics or COVID-19 screening centers for testing and treatment.
v.The system provides a platform to analyse the incidence and helps in deciding the graded relaxation of the lockdown to continue the economic activities.
About Apthamitra:
i.The system is owned by the Health and Family Welfare Department and State Disaster Management Authority working under National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Bengaluru.
ii.Infosys BPM, a subsidiary of Infosys Ltd, developed this application and its backend CRM(customer relationship management ) system.
About NASSCOM:
NASSCOM is a non-profit trading association of Indian Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing Industry founded by Dewang Mehta and Nandan Nilekani.
Chairperson- UB Pravin Rao
Headquarters– New Delhi
Founded– 1st March 1988
