250,000 frontline staff in Karnataka trained online to fight Covid

Karnataka has effectively leveraged technology in COVID battle and so far about 2.5 lakh healthcare and frontline staff have been trained through online platforms, Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Saturday.

He said, this is a model for the entire country.

The Minister today inaugurated the virtual training programme being conducted in association with StepOne for about 10,000 medical, dental and Ayush students to train them in home isolation care and addressed the students.

During the first wave it was necessary to provide training to healthcare workers about the new virus. But due to lockdown and other reasons when it was not feasible to conduct physical training about 2.5 lakh healthcare and front line staff were trained through online mode with the help of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), the Minister's office said in a release.

Even the Central government had appreciated Karnataka's efforts to leverage technology, it said.

"StepOne has partnered with the state government in mobilising volunteers and doctors and training them in tele-triaging. This has led to effective home isolation care in Karnataka. Even Niti Ayog has appreciated the home isolation process in Karnataka and the technology deployed for it. Medical students, doctors of the Health Department and faculty of medical colleges have played a great role in home isolation management," Sudhakar said.

Noting that there is a process to regularly monitor the health of those under home isolation, he said, "we are utilising the services of about 10,000 medical, dental and Ayush students and about 500 experts are supporting the system."

During the second wave about 1.33 crore tele-consultations were done including 42.57 lakh doctor consultations, he further said, adding about 36,000 people were provided mental health counselling.