Health is a call away
The Piramal Foundation helpline uses the ubiquitous mobile phone
to touch lives in rural India.
Since 2007, the Health Information Helpline
has extended to a complaint redressal system, clinical and psychological counselling,
anti-addiction helpline, mother-and-child tracking system, and India's only
AIDS awareness helpline.
29 million calls (that's more than the
population of some countries) addressed in the HIHL's existence have not merely
enhanced convenience; they have helped avert more than 950 suicides and nearly
15 million outpatient visits.
I have a short-term solution for all us urban
ites who complain till kingdom come each time we feel miserable with something
as basic as a cold. We only need to remember that in rural India, about half
the population has no access to healthcare, and over threefifths need to
commute beyond 5 kilometres to reach a healthcare centre.
I also have a solution for all those who crib
each time the domestic support staff (we called them `servants' once) falls ill
and we have to pay for their treatment. Poor rural patients receiving private
outpatient care for chronic conditions spend an average 44 per cent of their
monthly household expenditure per treatment. The result is that a number of
them don't just fall ill; they become indebted as well.
The Piramal Foundation recognized this inequity
and did something about it a comprehensive primary healthcare solution
touching the lives of rural Indians through a complement of initiatives. Their
Health Information Helpline is what I will discuss in this column.
What makes the helpline different from similar
initiatives is the delivery backbone the means by which Piramal Foundation
reached the remotest corners of this country without blowing resources on
overheads. The foundation turned to that ubiquitous trusted complement of our
daily living the mobile phone.
The Piramal Foundation recognised that the
mobile phone could help faster than most conventional healthcare service
providers. It could reach everywhere, connect in seconds, understand patient
needs and administer solutions in less time than a villager would have taken
to reach the bus stop to go to a healthcare service provider.
Overnight, Piramal's network could be everywhere
a mobile phone reached. The harder a telecom service worked, the wider
Piramal's health footprint became.
This is how Piramal's health helpline is
structured at the back end. The service is driven by a call centre. The service
comprises trained counsellors, paramedics and doctors who respond
telephonically to medical queries. The interaction is facilitated by a
sophisticated computer based template programmed to “comprehend“ a patient's
medical reality on the basis of questions asked and answers provided. The
result is that when a call centre executive plugs basic details, the
“intelligent“ computer throws up the right prescription.
Critics have argued that such a service has
downsides. How can the “computer doctor“ get it right each time? Piramal's
answer is that the service addresses primary healthcare needs, the bulk of
which concern headache, cough, cold and viral infections. These ailments have
been so comprehensively mapped for symptoms and probable remedies that there is
no satellite science in being able to recommend a paracetamol or analgesic.
The result is that this combination of
technology, core medical knowledge and commonsense has helped create one of the
widest and deepest networks delivering primary healthcare.
What is fascinating is how the extension of an
urban service in a rural setting has transformed realities. Over the years,
rural patients have moderated the need to travel long distances and expend
precious resources; a solution can be competently delivered in a fraction of
the time, effort and cost by the simple leverage of the country's telecom
network.
You would think that the service would end with
this simple telephone call. Interestingly, when you encounter a voice at the
other end that is as patient as it is caring, you start talking. You feel you
have found someone you can trust. You feel that a “doctor“ at the other end
understands you. You feel the world is sympathetic. And that is how this simple
telephonic service has evolved: it is no longer seen just as a functional service
provider; it is seen as a “friend“ at arm's each; it is a confidante to those
needing an inducement to consume their prescribed medicines; it is seen as the
unseen guide to issues that may extend from the medical to the social.
Since 2007, the Health Information Helpline has
extended to a complaint redressal system, clinical and psychological
counselling, anti-addiction helpline, mother-and-child tracking system, and
India's only AIDS awareness helpline.
The Health Information Helpline operates 24x7
across seven states. All patient details are recorded electronically. Medically
validated algorithms and disease summaries provide a valuable building block of
prevailing realities, around which paramedics and doctors deliver competent and
reliable medical services. The service is supported by 200 full-time doctors
and 1,000 qualified paramedics.
I have a different way of looking at this: the
29 million calls (that's more than the population of some countries) addressed
in the HIHL's existence have not merely enhanced convenience; they have helped
avert more than 950 suicides and nearly 15 million outpatient visits. Commend
this service only for its environment-friendliness, even if you don't get the
full import of its sweeping therapeutic impact.
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MUDAR PATHERYA
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MM20APR15
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