Bridging the distance between doctors and patients with technology

Bridging the distance between doctors and patients with technology - the commitment of doctors brought to fruition through Vriddha Mitra, a community-based program for the care of older adults.

- SHIVANI PURANIK

Pune, India — At 2:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon in Laxmi Nagar, Yerawada, 70-year-old Vimal Gaikwad sits in a crowded community hall, waiting to see her doctor. But instead of someone in a stethoscope and white coat entering the room, a screen lights up — the doctor greets her with a smile and asks how she has been, and she shares her troubles.

On this Doctors' Day, we celebrate the commitment to care exemplified by almost 40 doctors around the city through out-patient care that is virtually organized and implemented - a growing model of remote health-care delivery aimed at providing quality health care to elderly residents in Pune's urban slums.

In these communities, where access, affordability, and mobility-related issues often stand in the way of a doctor's visit, the 'Virtual OPD' addresses these gaps with a simple solution bringing the doctor to the community through online meets.

Presently, over 36,000 elderly in Pune city are receiving consistent care at their doorstep through Vriddha Mitra (Friends of Older People), a program run by the NGO SCHOOL (Society of Community Health Oriented Operational Links). Launched in Pune in 2019, Vriddha Mitra works with five partner organizations in the city — including Deep Griha Society, MASHAL, Sevadham Trust, Snehdeep Jankalyan Foundation, and Vanchit Vikas — to deliver at-home care for the underserved elderly population who live in the slums of the city. The crux of this framework is "ageing in place", giving the most vulnerable strata of older people the opportunity to age in the comfort of their own homes without the intervention of institutional care.