Access to quality primary healthcare at the last mile

This is Bimla Debi with her grandson – they live in a remote hamlet in Assam. She used to suffer from Hypertension and Diabetes which remained undiagnosed as there was no healthcare centre near her village. Today, both are under control and she is healthy and happy.

How did this happen? Because of Sanjeevani – the Village Health Outreach Program, a Government of Assam program supervised by National Health Mission, Assam and operated by us. Sanjeevani has enabled early identification of diseases, screening, referrals, follow-up and free medicines for effective chronic disease management.

80 Mobile Medical Units are functioning in all 30 districts of Assam as part of a once-a-month, fixed date outreach initiative that is a pathway to converged health services in villages. All MMUs are equipped with telemedicine services for Hypertension and Diabetes. Each MMU has a Registration & Measurement Officer, Lab Technician, Pharmacist, General Nurse & Midwife and a Pilot.

Post the screening, beneficiaries are referred to the nearest Primary Heath Centre for confirmation, prescription and commencement of treatment.

Strengthening Governance

This is a story from Nalanda district, Bihar that demonstrates how our work has fanned the winds of change, improved health outcomes significantly and touched lakhs of lives across the state.

Behind the photo lies a heartwarming change story of how real time monitoring of the widespread public healthcare operations in Bihar has led to improved accountability, reduced human error, lower costs while enabling better utilization of infrastructure.

In Nalanda district, the anaemia prevalence is 61.7%. A thrust on adoption of digital tools resulted in availability of quality data (which is key in any decision-making), thus giving a boost to data-driven governance at Health and Wellness Centres (HWC). The Nalanda district administration, equipped with data, was able to identify 4 High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) cases, all of who were suspected severely anaemic pregnant women. These women were administered Iron Sucrose after referral to the District Hospital.

A mechanism has now been established at HWC, Deepnagar for screening of all pregnant women for HRP. What is heartening is that the civil surgeon has also directed that all HWCs in Nalanda have such a mechanism in place which will go a long way in stemming maternal mortality rates!

Command & Control Centre, Bihar

Started in 2021 in partnership with the Department of Health and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the aim was to build a future ready, National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) compliant health system ensuring continuum of care for all its citizens. Implemented across 37 district hospitals in Bihar , the Centre has now been successfully handed over to the government, and is fully owned and operated by the government – a mark of its success. Today, it is known as Swasthya Samiksha Kendra.

Decision makers are making informed decisions based on data including patient flow, service rendered to patients, key health indicators among others. This has brought about better patient health outcomes and gone a long way in bringing about transparency and building public confidence in public healthcare systems.

Through all we have done so far, we have reached 17 states, 500+ facilities, 19,000+ service providers, 500+ middle managers and 2000+ district/block officials towards enhancing digital competency, digital adoption, and data-driven decision-making. And this is just the beginning.