Primary Health Centres under CCTV lens in Telangana

For the first time in the country, 887 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in rural and Urban PHCs (UPHCs) across Telangana are now linked through ‘Telangana PHCs Monitoring Hub’, which is a network of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTVs) that will enable health authorities in Hyderabad to remotely monitor the flow of work at PHCs in real-time.

On Friday, the State Health Minister, T Harish Rao inaugurated the Telangana PHCs Monitoring Hub and a Command Centre at Directorate of Public Health (DPH), Koti.

The PHC monitoring hub has multipurpose utility, as three major Health Departments including Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare (CHFW), DPH and Telangana State Medical Services and Infrastructure (TSMSIDC), can now monitor, pass instructions and conduct skill upgradation programmes remotely from Hyderabad.

“Apart from monitoring, the PHCs hub will be very useful in coordination whenever there is an outbreak of diseases



at the local level. The monitoring hub is two-way video enabled, which means the healthcare workers at the PHCs and at the command centre in Hyderabad will be able to participate in a video conference,” Minister said.

The PHC monitoring hub will enable better monitoring, which will have a positive impact on healthcare facilities for poor patients at the PHCs. Moreover, the CCTVs will act as a deterrent and bring in a lot of transparency into the healthcare services at the PHC level, the Minister said.

In the near future, the health department will also utilise the PHC monitoring hub to provide specialist services to patients at the PHC level. “In case the doctor at the PHC feels that the patient needs to consult a specialist doctor at the nearby District Hospital or a tertiary hospital in Hyderabad then through the video conference feature patients at PHCs can remotely consult with the specialist doctor,” DPH, Dr G Srinivasa Rao explained.