Avaya, a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, has joined hands with a group of non-profit organisations and doctors to rapidly improve COVID-19 patients’ access to free healthcare while easing the stress on hospitals and clinics struggling with patient care. 

Created by Avaya and I-Novate in collaboration with MySenior Doctors, the platform acts as a virtual out-patient department, using the Avaya Spaces workstream collaboration solution to connect patients directly to doctors in private virtual rooms. The non-profit organisations Rotary India, Arogya Foundation of India, and the Manav Mitra Foundation also contribute to the initiative. 

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MeitY), MedicSetu gives COVID-19 patients under home quarantine the ability to participate in free video consultations with qualified doctors using a virtual platform. This greatly increases citizens’ access to medical advice while easing the burden on stretched resources at healthcare institutions.

Kunaal Prasad, COO, NLP Mission, MeitY said, "The creation of MedicSetu coordinates these efforts by giving patients free access to groups of doctors from anywhere without placing additional stress on the healthcare system. This is a purely non-commercial project, driven by the spirit of cooperation and contribution of doctors, NGOs, federations, volunteers and others, and we thank them for their proactive support to help us get the situation under control.”

“Right now, the focus is totally on the COVID-19 patients who are hospitalised, but the ones who are home quarantined need equal attention. It is the time where organisations like us need to step up to address this gap and find the best solution to avail doctors to these home quarantined patients, especially for those who cannot take any financial pressure for medical consultation,” said Kamal Sanghvi, Director, Rotary International. 

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, our Avaya team has gone above and beyond to safeguard the health and safety of others, while supporting organisations and customers globally in their ability to respond. And once again we’ve been humbled by the incredible work that our team put into this initiative, and by their drive to use our technology for good in the face of significant societal challenges,” said Vishal Agrawal, Managing Director – India & SAARC, Avaya.

Anish Kumar, Director and Co-Founder of I-Novate Group Of Companies, added: “The country right now is in dire need for proactive responsibility to help COVD-19 patients connect with doctors, especially the individuals who are currently home quarantined and are not able to step out for consultation. It is an amalgamation of both availing an easy-to-use virtual communication platform between patients and doctors, and reducing the load on an already overburdened health infrastructure.”