A combination of telemedicine and on-the-ground presence, along with an asset-light model, are helping Gramin Healthcare scale its primary health care model in rural areas.
On a hot, humid August day in Nalvi Kalan village in Haryana’s Karnal district, a portion of a primary school is being used for a health camp. For two days before this, Seema, a nurse who is now checking a woman’s eyesight using charts suitable for the unschooled, went around the village with a megaphone, announcing the camp. Announcements were also made at the school so that children could tell their parents about it; today women and men, children in tow, are lining up to register for a health card that will give them access to primary health care all year round. A doctor and two nurses conduct various basic tests, including blood pressure, ECG and vision. Villagers can also buy ayurvedic medicines and prescription glasses at the camp.
A camp like this is the last mile in Gramin Healthcare’s model of providing primary health care in rural India which, since it was started in September 2015, has set up 110 primary health care centres in six states; one centre is for a cluster of ten villages or so. These aim to provide villagers, who would otherwise go to a local medicine man or travel to the nearest town, with institutionalised health care closer home. Twice a week, the staff head out to individual villages to hold camps, while also maintaining digital health records of all the card holders.
“People in villages have to travel to hospitals or clinics, which not only costs them money but also a day or half a day of work. It’s worse for women who depend on their husbands to take them to the doctor. This way, the women can come over themselves. The camp also makes it easier for senior citizens,” says Sonia Vohra, head of operations, Gramin Healthcare.
Denne historien er fra September 28, 2018-utgaven av Forbes India.
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Denne historien er fra September 28, 2018-utgaven av Forbes India.
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