CHANDIGARH, MAY 18
An expert critical care group to help Covid patients in Punjab has completed its over one year. It was formed in April, 2020, under the leadership of Dr KK Talwar, Health and Medical Education Advisor to Punjab Government.
The Chief Secretary, Ms Vini Mahajan, has also been attending the meetings of this one-of-its-type tele-mentoring exercise to encourage the experts and participants in a sustained campaign to improve understanding among the treating doctors in government and private hospitals about the latest tools — medicines and medical practices — against the deadly virus.
The group regularly conducts training and discussion sessions every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 7.30 pm. So far, more than 50 sessions have been conducted.
The cases of moderate to severely sick patients admitted at the GMCs in Amritsar and Patiala, GGSMC Faridkot, DMC Ludhiana, CMC Ludhiana and private facilities were discussed by the experts during the sessions and views were exchanged to improve the management of the patients.
Prof GD Puri, Dean and Head of Anaesthesia department, PGIMER, Chandigarh, and Dr Bishav Mohan, Professor, Cardiology, DMC Ludhiana, were the conveners of the group, while the speakers from USA, UK, PGIMER, AIIMS, deliver talks and discuss cases as presented by various districts and hospitals.
“Not only the meetings, there is a regular exchange of ideas on a WhatsApp group as well. Various emergency cases are also discussed,” said an official spokesperson.
Besides the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries Health and Family Welfare Hussan Lal, Medical Education and Research DK Tewari, and National Health Mission Punjab Managing Director Tanu Kashyap also attend the meetings.
Eminent experts like Dr Vinod Paul have also participated in the group’s meeting. “Dr Paul was so impressed that he asked that doctors from Himachal Pradesh may also be given the opportunity to join,” shared a group member, while adding that Echo platform has been used for this unique tele-mentoring exercise.
Besides Dr Puri and Dr Mohan, several experts from across the country and world like Dr Anup K Singh from New York, Dr Ajit Kayal from London, Dr Sandeep Kataria from New York, Dr Sarju Rahlan from Ludhiana DMC, Dr Pankaj Malhotra and Dr Vikas Suri from Chandigarh PGIMER, Dr Ambuj Roy and Dr Nitish Naik from AIIMS New Delhi, Dr Tanu Singhal from KDAH Mumbai, Dr Ashish Bhalla and Dr Pallab Ray from Chandigarh PGIMER has been associated with the group of experts.
