National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network of Bihar

National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network of  Bihar

A next  generation delivery points of AYUSH stream of medication for overall healthcare services delivery to the rural citizens in India.

Target Group: Bihar State Rural Citizens, Urban Poor at District Places in Bihar.

Geographical Reach within India: For this project it is Bihar State; Product also deployed in Bangalore, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh.

Geographical Reach outside India: Product can be used in Asian, African countries. Can also be modified for use in European Countries.

The National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network project includes the setting up of telemedicine delivery systems in 212 Primary Health Centers, 38 District Hospitals and a central unit at Patna.

Bihar is the third largest populated State in the country with more than 90 million people. In an effort to minimize the gap in the health sector in the State of Bihar and to promote the

benefits of healing to a patient in the natural way under the AYUSH system of medicine, a  Project is proposed to cover the 212 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and 38 District Hospitals  and one central unit at Patna to setup and manage Tele-Medicine Solution for online  consultations.

The project, to be cohabitated in the PHCs are aimed to act as the next  generation delivery points of AYUSH stream of medication for overall healthcare services delivery to the rural citizens in remote locations in the State of Bihar.

The primary objective  of these centers is to deliver preventive and primary healthcare solutions for long term  relief for patients in rural areas of the State, which will enable the state to achieve the  following objectives:

• To provide Quality healthcare virtually at the doorstep of the rural citizen.
• Up-gradation of the infrastructure of the PHCs in Bihar
• To enhance the capacity of existing healthcare mechanisms in rural Bihar.
• Shall act as a support system in propagating and participating in the State/National Health Programs
• Demonstrate the viability of the healthcare model both in terms of financial as well  as social deliverables from the Government to the citizen.
• An effective primary & preventive healthcare service delivery by building in required capacity into the front line paramedical staff and thereby bring in the desired accountability into the public healthcare system.
• A cost effective and efficient healthcare service provisioning and a vibrant procitizen  approach.
• Accountability for every single patient.
• A Point of Presence (PoP) for near perfect healthcare mapping in planned clusters.

Project Description
State Health Society Bihar is implementing the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) goals  to carry out necessary strengthening in the basic health care delivery system. The Goal of  the Mission is to improve the availability and access to quality health care by people, especially for those residing in rural areas. As part of its overall mandate of ensuring accessibility to good quality healthcare and to meet the overall demand of good quality of AYUSH treatment on Additional Primary Health Centre is the basic structural and functional unit of health services.

With the growing population of India and especially Bihar, pressure  on the PHCs and District Hospitals has increased tremendously. Due to this, people in the  rural areas will access the health care services at nearby centres as envisioned by the  Government. Through this project Ministry of Health and Family Welfare aims to reduce the  pressure on the secondary nodes of health care provisioning.

The PHCs will be provisioned  with

• Basic infrastructure
• Tele-Diagnostic Kit
• Computer system equipped with multimedia components to undertake audiovideo consultation.
• Medical Record Management System to ensure that each patient and consultation is accounted for.
• Tamper proof prescription mechanism.
• Suitable connectivity options for secured data transfer.
• Deployment of trained manpower and management
• Creation of referral system for specialist/expert consultation
• Promotion of AYUSH system of preventive and curative care

Date From which the Project became Operational: 2-4-2013

Five points that make the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative innovative:
1. End-To-End workflow for Telemedicine including medical devices, EHR and application.
2. Integrated Solution for investigations and diagnosis.
3. Automated Solution for Differential Blood Count.
4. Video Consultation Services for remote patients with online Electronic Health Record.
5. Automatic Disease Identification for Malaria, TB, Jaundice and Dengue

Five key achievements of the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative:
1. Largest Deployment (250) of Kiosks for providing Telemedicine Solution in North East State.
2. Providing consultations to several thousand patients with medical test services.
3. Usable technology, the kiosk can be operated by any body who knows how to use a computer.
4. Very Affordable as clinical tests are performed at a fractional cost compared to private laboratory.
5. Provides accessible and affordable healthcare to patients in remote places.

Keonics, a Karnataka government-owned enterprise, and KTwo Technology Solutions, a healthcare products company is expanding the rural telemedicine project National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network (NARTAN) to Bihar. The project includes the setting up of telemedicine delivery systems in 212 Primary Health Centers (PHC), 38 District Hospitals (DH) and a central unit at Patna.

Bihar’s National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network (NARTAN) is an initiative that comes as a boon to the state’s rural population that has long remained deprived of primary healthcare facilities. The lack of infrastructure and inadequate number of doctors have driven the State Health Society in the state to firm up a mission to improve and enhance the quality of healthcare in rural Bihar with the prestigious National Rural Tele Medicine Ayush Network (NARTAN).