New Delhi – The recent catastrophic disaster in Turkey has left tens of thousands of people dead and thousands more injured. While the rescue phase is complete, the recovery and rehabilitation phase is just beginning. Many hospitals have been demolished and are not functional, and doctors, nurses, and staff have been stretched thin.
To support the country during this critical time, Apollo Hospitals and LifeSigns have partnered to donate 1000 remote patient monitoring patches. These patches can be used in settings where patients need close vital signs monitoring, including cardiac rhythm. They allow doctors to reliably monitor a patient’s heart rate, ECG rhythm, respiratory rate, temperature, and position, and can also be used to connect to oxygen saturation monitoring devices. This will free up critical care beds for the sickest patients, and those who need care outside of hospitals or in the field can use the patches.
Timely monitoring of vital signs is essential to avoid further loss of life, especially when patients may not have access to their usual care and medications, and are dealing with immense stress from their losses. Dr Sai Praveen Haranath from Apollo Hospitals stated, “Apollo Hospitals stands ready to assist Turkey in this hour of need to help with medical assistance and guidance from our entire critical care and sub-specialist teams, who can help with monitoring these patients.”
The CEO of LifeSigns, Mr Hari Subramaniam, who donated the patches, understands the critical need for such a device, stating, “As a company, we have always believed that vital signs need to be monitored anywhere, anytime, and our devices allow doctors to make important decisions for their patients to prevent harm and encourage healing.”
The Turkish Medical Association Central Council General Secretary Prof. Vedat Bulut said, “We are thankful for humanitarian health aid and the solidarity of Apollo Hospital Group on behalf of the Turkish Medical Association. All efforts to help the earthquake victims are invaluable. Adana Medical Chamber is now the logistic centre in the disaster zone, and all medical supplies are distributed from Adana to other cities. In particular, four cities were damaged badly, and even the buildings of medical chambers collapsed in these cities.”
Dr Selahattin Menteş, Radiation Oncology Specialist, and President of Adana Medical Chamber said “We thank you for the international solidarity shown in the earthquake that affected a total of 11 provinces, including 15 million people.”
This whole endeavour was made possible through an international network of volunteers spanning many countries and required extreme coordination and cooperation from busy doctors in Turkey who were already dealing with multiple issues related to the crisis.
We are hopeful that this donation of devices and expertise will help build a medical bridge between these two great countries and alleviate suffering.
