Jugdiep Singh, managing director, Satguru Partap Singh Apollo Hospitals, and G.S. Ghosal signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard today.

Initially, the hospital will make available its super-specialist doctors for cardiology, cardiac surgery, orthopedics, gastro-entrology, endocrinology, neurology and skin and cosmetology at the Apollo Clinic, Jalandhar, said a hospital spokesman.

In the next phase, all other speciality departments will also be integrated. This will enable the population of Jalandhar and surrounding areas to avail quality service and get consultation of specialists at their doorstep, said Jugdiep Singh at a press conference here today.

Eventually, doctors’ computers will be linked through telemedicine to the electronic medical record of the clinic allowing the doctors at Ludhiana to instantly access the patient data, he added.

According to Ghosal, apart from an integrated system, a toll-free helpline for medical advice will also be made available at the clinic and the staff of the clinic will be trained by SPS Apollo Hospitals.

This is the first step towards networking of the hospital with a number of medical centres in peripheral areas of Ludhiana city for a medical expertise and technology sharing arrangement, connected to a common hub (SPS Apollo Hospitals), said Dr S.P. Singh, chief operating officer, SPS Apollo Hospitals. This is called a “hub and spoke” model — the hospital forming the hub, linked to several smaller clinics. The tie-ups at Ambala , Bhatinda and Mandi Ahmedgarh are in the final stages and will be completed before April. We intend to tie up with 15 more centres in various cities before December.

Lack of medical expertise and technology is precisely the reason why smaller centres are keen to network with larger hospitals, said Dr G.L. Awasthi, director medical services, SPS Apollo Hospitals. A small medical centre which does not have proper facility to handle a specialized care will benefit from networking with large hospitals, he added. It will also eliminate unnecessary expenditure by way of long-distance travel to see the super specialist doctors.