{"id":264,"date":"2021-05-03T09:44:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T09:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hops.healthcare\/blogs\/?p=264"},"modified":"2023-07-15T10:53:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T10:53:32","slug":"health-atm-access-a-viable-economic-solution-to-upgrade-rural-healthcare-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hops.healthcare\/blogs\/health-atm-access-a-viable-economic-solution-to-upgrade-rural-healthcare-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Health ATM Access – A Viable, Economic Solution to Upgrade Rural Healthcare System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background of India\u2019s Rural Healthcare System<\/strong><\/h4>\n

70% of India\u2019s population resides in rural areas. Rural population is deprived of basic healthcare facilities owing to lack of qualified doctors, medical infrastructure<\/strong>, distance, non-access to basic medicines<\/strong>, general lack of awareness<\/strong> towards diseases, and low literacy rate are the major barriers to healthcare accessibility. Besides there is high prevalence<\/strong> of diseases such as TB, Malaria, Diarrhea etc. In a survey report in TOI, Rural India suffered more from infections that included Malaria, viral hepatitis, jaundice, acute diarrheal diseases, dysentery, dengue<\/strong>, etc. There is also high prevalence of respiratory illness, <\/strong>dyslipidemia, and hypertension in rural population. Add to all of these, Primary Healthcare Centers are not equipped to provide quality, basic primary healthcare services. Most of the PHCs don\u2019t have adequate stock of generic medicines<\/strong> and rural population has to visit secondary centers and tertiary centers to access basic healthcare facilities<\/p>\n

Health Kiosk Gujarat Success Story \u2013 Strengthening Primary Healthcare services at the Grassroots<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In October 2020, HOPS Healthcare deployed four health kiosks in Dwarka District of Gujarat as a part of CSR initiative (Project Tushti) in collaboration with Nayara Energy, JSI \u2013 India and Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar. Many states are utilizing Health Kiosk (Health ATMs) as a part of various healthcare initiatives for promoting Primary and Preventive healthcare screening<\/strong>. Gujarat government is utilizing Health Kiosks to upgrade the primary healthcare services at the rural areas that face acute shortage of doctors.<\/strong> It provides full body checkup within minutes, and disseminates primary and preventive healthcare services through Point of Care testing devices<\/strong> integrated with ICT platform<\/strong>. A walk in health checkup platform that provides a quick snapshot of the user\u2019s health<\/strong>. Having a Health Kiosk at Public Health Centers strengthens the capacity <\/strong>of the PHC by enabling the centers to provide Point of Care Testing which earlier was available at district hospitals and health<\/strong> and wellness centers.<\/strong> It also preserves Patients\u2019 Medical Records<\/strong> in digital format<\/strong> for providing better healthcare services to the patients. It is a viable, economical solution for upgrading PHC<\/strong> which reduces patient\u2019s visits to secondary centers, tertiary centers <\/strong>and district hospitals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The kiosks deployed at four health centers in Gujarat are proving to be an effective solution to address the dearth of trained medical staff<\/strong>. It enables better referral management<\/strong> and saves time of the rural population that had to travel a long distance<\/strong> to access primary healthcare services. Besides, it aids in the Central government\u2019s effort to make Comprehensive Primary Healthcare services<\/strong> accessible in rural areas. It covers various healthcare parameters and covers a wide range of healthcare screening facilities. It connects Patient to a specialist within 30 minutes for telemedicine consultation<\/strong>. It can be easily manned by one medical attendant<\/strong> and doesn\u2019t need more staff to operate it. \u00a0<\/p>\n