Wireless enabled Healthy Uttarakhand
My 2018 Visit to Uttarakhand
exposed me to several problems that the Villagers of Uttarakhand (especially
remote areas of Uttarakhand) are facing. Unavailability of even Primary
functional Health Center is one of them. Even now, Villagers of Uttarakhand,
rely on traditional unqualified Vaidya (Physicians).
In certain cases, Villagers travel
hundreds of Kilometers to get access to even basic Healthcare solution. It is not
only time consuming and causes tremendous inconvenience, but villagers have to
spend a lot of money.
In some villages the Healthcare Infrastructure i.e. building is present, but no medical staff is available. Also being a Hilly terrain, it’s hard for patient to hike, which is mostly the only way, to reach nearest operational medical center, or to the nearest Bus Stop.
Hypothesis :
Rural India will accept Technology Based Health Solutions.
Feels like Solution
Before
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Solution to the problem can be
provided using Digital Heath/Telemedicine solutions, connecting patients in
remote villages, to doctors in Urban Hospitals. With wireless providers
connecting even remotest of the location, and with support of GOI (Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare) this solution should be technically feasible.
After
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Looks like Solution
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O ne Day Experiment:
I would like to go to the Villages
of Uttarakhand, along with basic portable devices such as, Portable BP Monitor,
Glucometer, and Mobile Phone (with Data connection). I would then try to visit
Patients and connect them to Doctor over Video Call.
Using the Portable Heath Devices,
I would be able to share Vitals to doctor real time. If the data connection is
not stable or is poor, I would like to see if this system can be made available
from nearest location with proper network connectivity, or else using non-video
techniques i.e. taking the Vitals of the patient and communicating with the
Doctor over call / offline.
This experiment will not only
help in answering the functional feasibility of the solution but also help in
understanding the technical feasibility/limitation of the solution.
Loved it Devender! As they say "Ideas are in the Air". ISRO already has nodes allotted on its INSAT and GSAT satellites exclusively for Tele-medicine. The problem is the hugely inefficient downstream, which is predominantly run by the Government Health care system. The sector is in dire need of a For-profit professional business model and such an initiative can really turn the tide.
ReplyDeleteWonderful read, All the vert best!
Thanks,
Ganesh