Punjab: Gynaecologists to give telemedicine consultations to pregnant women amid COVID-19

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department on Saturday imparted special training to 70 gynaecologists for providing medical consultations to pregnant women on calls amid COVID-19 pandemic. The department has also set up separate labour rooms in all district hospitals for deliveries of pregnant women who are suffering from Coronavirus.

State Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that all civil surgeons have been instructed to promote telemedicine consultations of gynaecologists as well as general OPD services which are available on the eSanjeevani mobile application.

"Anyone can avail of free services of online-consultations by using their mobile phones. It has proven as a boon for pregnant women who did not want to attend the normal OPD, fearing the risk of contracting COVID-19," a press release said.

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Furthermore, Antenatal Care services (ANC) programme continues to remain functional in all Health and Wellness Centres across all rural areas of Punjab since lockdown. A total of 90,463 ANCs, registered from April to June 2020 and have conducted 63,827 deliveries in Punjab.

COVID-19 test is mandatory during the third trimester of pregnancy, under which 12,479 pregnant women were tested for Coronavirus from April to June, out of which 118 tested positive.

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COVID-19 in Punjab

Punjab reported its sharpest single-day spike of 944 Coronavirus cases on Saturday which pushed the tally to 17,063, while 19 fatalities in the same period took the death toll in the state to 405.

A total of 341 patients were discharged in a day after recovering from COVID-19. So far, 11,075 people have been cured of the infection, leaving 5,583 active cases in the state, according to the bulletin.

It stated that 13 patients are critical state and are on ventilator support while 145 are on oxygen support. A total of 5,92,392 samples have been collected in the state so far in the state, the bulletin said.

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(With inputs from agency)