Kolkata, Jan 2 (IANS): In order to ease pressure on jail hospitals and state-run general hospitals, West Bengal correctional services department has decided to introduce telemedicine services at different correctional homes in the state.

A senior official of the state correctional department said in the preliminary stage the telemedicine system will be introduced in eight major correctional homes and depending on the success of the pilot project it will be introduced in other correctional homes.

“Initially, the system will be introduced at the central correctional home. Dum Dum Central Correctional Homes in North 24 Parganas district will be the first correctional home where the telemedicine services will be introduced,” the official said.

Explaining why the introduction of telemedicine has become imperative at the correctional homes, the official said that the correctional home hospitals are mainly manned by doctors with MBBS degrees, which is the basic degree in medicine.

“However, often in case of the medical complications for the correctional home inmates, the necessity for the medical advice of doctors with higher degrees becomes extremely important. In that case the patient concerned needs to be shifted to the state-run general hospitals, which involves higher cost, time and the risk associated with the transfer. The introduction of telemedicine systems at the correctional homes will solve this problem to a great extent,” the official said.

However, a question remains whether this introduction of telemedicine at the correctional home will ultimately bring a halt in the practice of high-profile and influential prisoners getting referred to state-run hospitals. “Keep guessing”, was the reply from the state correctional department official.