Digital Dispensary - Bolstering Patient Care In Jharkhand

We have enough doctors in urban areas but remote rural areas lack the same. People have to travel far just to get basic primary care which they can get near their homes. We are striving to improve things on this front with support from the State Government, said Anurag Vohra, Chief Technology Officer, Apollo TeleHealth Services while delivering speech at the Healthcare Summit Jharkhand held in Ranchi recently.

DIGITAL DISPENSARIES

Apollo is working on a telemedicine plan to create accessible and affordable model of care to masses. We have started about hundred digital dispensaries across Jharkhand to facilitate telemedicine service with doctors sitting in Apollo Hyderabad.

In last six months, we have operationalised over 100 centres in rural areas. Unique patient count is close to 68,000 with 36% repeat usage. This can be monitored anytime through dashboard. People can track real-time about how the services are being availed.

The software even tracks the attendance of people, the equipment and the medical prescriptions written. This is the benefit that digital tools bring to you.

KEY COMPONENTS OF OUR SERVICE DELIVERY MECHANISM

We have required infrastructures including skilled manpower, homegrown EMR software, urine electrolyte analyzer, and a non-invasive haemoglobin measurement machine.

People often do not want to have invasive blood tests. They are found to be averse to give their blood or get pricked and hence their screening does not happen. To do away this, we along with some startups have come up with this innovative device which can collect haemoglobin in a non-invasive way. It takes a photo of your eye and then tells your haemoglobin value accurately.

Similarly we have a fetal heart rate monitor and multi-vital monitor. This works like a digital stethoscope. It has a 12 lead ECG with digital thermometer.