Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: Ahead of the upcoming G-20 summit meetings starting later this month, regional and national media representatives were invited to visit Primary Health Centers (PHC) Corlim and Dharbandora on the first day of the two-day health track. The visit to these two PHC’s is part of the government’s plans to showcase the state’s digital health infrastructure and other patient-centric medical advancements and services in the state of Goa.
G-20 health track first visited the PHC Corlim- Goa led by Dr Kedar Raikar, Nodal Officer Ayushman Bharat, Digital India, DHS, who is currently holding the position of OSD (Health) G20. At the PHC, the media delegates were 
introduced to the services provided to patients by Dr Geeta Kakodkar, Director Of Health Services, Goa Government. The primary health centre is equipped with a fully operational general, dental, ophthalmic psychiatrist, ayurvedic OPD and adolescents friendly health clinic, antenatal clinic, newborn care clinic, laboratory immunization centre and family planning services. The PHC has successfully switched from offline services to digital services for visiting patients. In the process of digitization, the patients access the ABHA app (Ayushman Bharat Health account) for registrations, and tele-consultations, and it also allows the patients and the doctors to scan and upload the reports and other medical details. While briefing about the services, Dr. Kedar Raikar says “Along with coping on the 
digitization of medical services as a part of health and wellness centre, we have got dialysis, heart attack programmes, which are package provided to us by the Goa government.” He further adds that they have converted 201 health and wellness centre across Goa, and that’s the target allotted by the ministry. The visiting media representatives were taken on a tour to all the opd’s for a first-hand experience of the services during which the concerned health staff explained the whole digital process in detail with demonstrations. Also present for the event were Himanshu Burad, OSD National Health Mission (NHM) and Aishwarya Chopra, consultant Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
Following the visit to PHC Corlim, the group of media representatives travelled to the Primary Health Centre Dharbandorda, Usgao Goa. After a warm welcome from the medical staff, Dr Sandesh Madkaikar, Health Officer of PHC Dharbandora, gave an insight into the overall functioning of the health centre. PHC Pillem, Dharbandora provides services like General Emergency Services, IPDAyurvedic, Ophthalmic OPD, Dental OPD, Obstetrics & Gynecology Pediatrics, 24×7 Ambulance service, STEMI-Cardiac Patients, Dialysis Unit, Immunisation, COVID-19 Testing, Laboratory Services, Pharmacy, X-Ray Services, Ultrasonography Services, Homeopathic, Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT), Geriatrics. The PHC houses a unit dedicated to dialysis, with over 130-140 patients treated for dialysis at the centre. “We are committed to providing comprehensive primary health care– free of cost, accessible to everybody, individuals from all sections of the society. Our approach is totally professional, maintaining ethical standards and constantly upgrading all knowledge,” says Dr. Sandesh Madkaikar. This is the only PHC that has been certified with a National Quality Assessment Standard certificate.
During the briefing with regards to the I-Breast scan exam an MBBS Medical Officer Dr. Raksha Samant demonstrated the machine of I-Breast scan machine to detect suspected tumors. The unit conducts regular camps for rural women to get tested. Talking about the scanning machine, Dr Samant says “the process is painless and it gives very accurate results. The product is operated with the support of phone which is connected via Bluetooth and the reports are received digitally.”
On the second day of the health track, the media representatives visited the Primary Health Centre, Aldona. Following a welcome programme, Dr Abhish Naik of the E-Sanjeevani OPD briefed about the services provided to the patients at the hospital and its community-centric programmes. On the sidelines of the visit, the representatives also visited the Village Panchayat of Moria to participate in an immunization drive.
Mr. Shikhar Shrivastava, the Head of Public Health Initiative of Tricog explained to the representatives the STEMI initiative at the center. “We are grateful to the state of Goa for identifying STEMI as a critical focus area and launching the Goa STEMI Program in December 2018. With this initiative, Goa is the first state in the country to use an AI-aided, digital system for STEMI management to combat the problem of premature mortality due to STEMI,” he said.
Mr. Arun Kumar Mishra, Secretary (Health) along with Dr.Kedar Raikar, OSD (Health) G20 and Dr Geeta Kakodkar, Director Of Health Services, Goa Government held a media briefing to review the two-day visit and share other details. “We have generated around 25% ABHA cards and are trying to achieve 100% registrations,” Mishra said. According to him, the ABHA mobile application has made an easier approach to medical facilities at the PHC, and are also looking forward to helping the beneficiaries who are not technologically savvy.
Services provided by the Government of Goa were highlighted, including genome sequencing laboratory, STEMI Goa project I Breast scanning and other services.
