kolkata the lives of more than 1000 brain stroke patients were saved and impending disabilities prevented by adopting specialized telemedicine service through a hubandspoke model the project that began last december with bangur institute neurology bin serving as the hub and 41 spokes across kolkata and rest of the state has yielded extremely encouraging results said neurologistsin kolkata rg kar sskm kolkata mch nrs bc roy cnmch are the spokes in the rest of the state there are 35 other spokes some of them in the remotest parts from where doctors have consulted experts at bin about patients and then carried out interventions that have prevented death and disability following brain stroke brain stroke is the secondmost common cause of death and a leading cause of chronic disabilities in india a simple guided medication in the golden hour of the stroke has saved several lives in case of brain stroke the first four hours are golden hours when thrombosis and blood clotting needs to be prevented urgently it needs a ct scan for diagnosis and immediate medicationat present the treatment for stroke is available only at tertiary care centres ie hospitals attached to medical colleges corporate hospitals and some private nursing homes or multispeciality hospitals accessibility and affordability are problems a patient on the periphery may not reach the designated health facility within the golden hours and could die or become disabled even if the facility is accessible treatment is beyond the reach of many the scarcity of neuroexperts is another important concern said a health department official the teleneuromedicine brain stroke management initiative aims to provide comprehensive and modern stroke care to patients on the periphery patients with brain stroke or any other neural issue which requires immediate medical intervention could be treated at the spoke end within golden hours under the guidance and supervision of neuroexperts through the telemedicine initiative the initiative enables the hub to guide the peripheral spokes in reperfusion therapies and to select eligible cases for modern neurointervention like mechanical thrombectomy at the spoke end the patients digital ct scans body vitals and other details like onset time are recorded by a trained medical officer at the spoke end through the swasthya ingit telemedicine it platform where the medical officer and the neuroexpert discuss the case in the audiovisual mode the neuroexpert then generates an eprescription for the spoke and guides the medical officer accordingly this method has yielded a 100 success rate