Healing Touch: Universalizing Access to Quality Primary Healthcare

Team Name : PARADIGM HARBINGERS Team Details

Kavish Kejriwal Pranshu Praleya

Ghanshyam Beniwal Ekansh Das

Palash Agrawal

Enlightenment of Shadows over Indian Health Scenario

MANTHAN THEME

Story of Palampur Village Farmers are oriented towards

maximum yield.

The scenario leads to rampant

use of pesticides regardless of

any negativity.

Excessive use has lead to several

chronic diseases. No apt means of

treatment are available nearby.

Diseases are not treated at

their teething stages. They

normally acquire the shape of

an epidemic.

Sickness of any form exerts a

heavy toll on poor families. The

low-cost dispensaries turn futile in

the need of the hour.

Specific medicines meant to

be sold at minimal charges are

given at very high rates.

Paucity of health services and

qualified professionals

aggravate the situation

furthermore.

Situation of present day rural areas in India

Scope of the Problems

OVERPOPULATION

URBAN SLUM & POOR

LARGE DEPENDENCY RATIO

India has been a major sufferer of this problem since its independence. A major portion(77%) of this overpopulated country is reported to belong to the rural areas where they unfortunately become the victims of socio-economic backwardness and paucity of medical utilities.

To the system’s dismay, there happens to be a large section of society who are stranded in a zone of no or improper classification. They are victimized by the predicament of their very existence. As a result they are neglected poverty and disease stricken and socioeconomically maladjusted to urban life.

A major portion of our country’s population falls in the juvenile and senior citizenry sections of the demography. As a result our system of implementation bears the brunt of hiring low qualified professionals who fail the former when it is expected to deliver key services to MDG targets.

Per capita food availability.

Poor sanitation

facility.

Inefficient utilisation of

funds.

In our nation, we have systems institutionalised for the welfare of the common people. One such is the Public Distribution System

(PDS) which is meant to carry out the entire onus of ensuring requisite amounts of food grains to the people deprived of fair means. The problem of malnutrition in our country can part be

ascribed to the failure of the PDS in different places.

This problem has spread out its roots not only in the rural towns but is also reported to be a common bane for the urbanites. This is what various political parties promise to get rid of in their agenda but fail

to act promptly leading to its persistence. Sanitation is extremely poor in rural areas and slums.

This is yet indeed another example of the aftermath of the negligence and carelessness perpetrated by the governing bodies at

different levels. Corruption and hoarding further aggravate the matter. Allocated funds are reported to be siphoned off by the

people in charge to fill their own coffers.

Where do we fall short

Current Situation

Increase of avenues and incentives to increase active

internship participation of medical students at different rural

locations.

Probable Solutions

Fostering Nursing and Paramedics by means of world class training &

education to the youth for catering services to the needy

sections.

Tendering proper maternal healthcare facilities to pregnant mothers so as to ensure health

and well-being of the newly evolved generation.

Establishment and regular monitoring of healthcare cells and NGOs at several remote levels so

as to facilitate govt. services to the grassroots levels.

Strengthening and standardization of backbone of medical education in India to ensure capability and

quality in professional work.

Introduction of a health cum insurance card carrying barcoded biometric information of individual person.

Introduction of Urban Planning initiatives by the state through evidence-based city level demonstration and learning efforts.

Enforcement of universal primary education and prevention of dropouts would be an important step towards acceptance of small family norm; special attention needs to be given to the girls and women.

The service agency should be properly geared for effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of contraceptive services, and the logistics for the same must ensure their continued regular supply.

The health personnel should be properly trained with a view to strengthen their knowledge and skills in properly educating and motivating the prospective users, and to develop in themselves a proper attitude and faith in the programme.

Engagement of Commercial Sector in PPP activities to expand partnerships in Urban Health Projects.

Overpopulation

Key to Major Problems Health of Urban Poor

Institutionalisation of a system of “checks-and-balances” that could keep vigil on the financial affairs of the drug department so as to minimize the incidence of scams and malfeasance.

There should be effective allocation of funds for the promotion of low-cost “generic” medicines that are eventually eclipsed under the commercial gameplay of pharmaceutical magnates.

Provision of an online auditing system whereby every Govt. databases could be made publicly available.

Inefficient Utilisation of Funds

The Government of India, states and cities

should be provided with quality technical

assistance for the effective implementation

of the proposed National Urban Health

Mission (NUHM).

Development of a primary care formulary of effective, low cost, generic drugs and vaccines to be made available through

primary care; this would take advantage of ongoing efforts to improve the system for drug procurement and distribution.

Development of a five year plan by the Government of India Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare to ensure that all doctors working in primary care are

trained and accredited in the specialty sectors and have the necessary skills and competencies to deliver uniformly good

quality care.

Implementation

Developing a number of centers of excellence in primary care to increase leadership capacity and provide a new

generation of primary care clinicians able to act as professional leaders, trainers,

researchers, and university faculty members.

Implementing and evaluating innovative public-private partnership initiatives focusing on providing care to meet

Millennium Development Goal Targets (MDG) targets and increasing number of

chronic illness.

OVERVIEW

In the world of today, we feel that it is indeed imperative to have a wholly

revolutionized concept of introducing an electronically barcoded health-cum-

insurance card that would contain all the necessary biometric information of a

person’s physiological details.

We propose this card to be issued to all eligible citizens of the country living over a

wide spectrum of bigger metros to every small towns and villages.

MERITS

This card would be accessible at all hospitals and dispensaries countrywide.

The card would carry all the details of a person’s immunization records along

with the previous health and treatment logs that could indeed expedite the

catering of health services covering emergency situations.

Moreover, the card can also contain information about a patient’s record of

organ and blood donations and transplant/transfusion.

This would reduce the administrative costs (especially in populous regions) and

subsequently eliminate felonious impersonation at all free drug stores and

medical aid centers.

A sample Health Card issued in Ontario, Canada

(For Majors)

From the eco-friendly perspective, the introduction of this card could well be an efficacious way

to minimize the excessive dependence on papers.

The card would prove to be a reliable affidavit of a person’s biological information might even

replace the currently trending practice of maintaining Birth Certificates.

The card would believably portray a person’s details of health insurance policy and might even

kickstart a healthy competition among all kinds of insurance providers leading to an overall boon

with the development of such services to levels of competency and consumer conviction.

Eventually, implementation of this idea may also ignite the peoples’ individual health concerns

since the policy framework would demand them to regularize health check-ups, etc.

The idea of a health-card is a novel and innovative solution to several health

issues prevalent in the modern India. Idea may appear far-fetched on its

face, but it has proven records of success in its region of influence. The plan

of drawing barcoded health cards garnered a lot of appreciation in Italy and

Ontario, Canada where the cards are reported to be running successfully

since the past few months. Similar efforts have also sprung on the Indian soil

(though at a small platform) like Pune where Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal

Corporation reports to have received an enrollment of 2.8 Lakh people for

the Health Card. Similar undertakings have also transpired of late courtesy

BajajAllianz and Aditya Birla Money(in association with Indian Health

Organisation). A sample Health Card issued in Ontario, Canada

(For minors)

MILESTONES TO COVER

Firstly, we feel it really important to commit to ourselves that this proposal of card is a futuristic venture and hence would require ample time and planning. It needs to be implemented in an organised fashion piecemeal over time.

Our field of interest would prioritise to strengthening of healthcare institutions in rural areas. This is a very important step as it

would lay the foundation to our plan right from the threshold.

Another major barricade to our initiative would be interconnectivity of several quarters of the Union Health Ministry with the state Govt. and local bodies countrywide. This would play a vital role in efficient accessibility of the Health Card at every nook

and cranny of provinces.

Another major challenge in this direction would be to create a sense of conviction in the minds of people by means of mass media and also enabling the NGOs to play their roles as active parts in the serving committee.

We ought to be mindful that the Health Card would just serve as a means of facilitating administrative convenience in the aspects of Primary Healthcare and should not be taken as the sole solution to all the problems prevalent in the country. There

is a need to think “out of the box” to find solutions to other miscellaneous problems.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Department of Pharmacology , Maulana Azad Medical College New Delhi.

• Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs.

•Urban Health Division , Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

•Ministry of Health and Long Term Care , Claims Services Branch, Ontario

• Institute for Health and Human Development, University of East London

• National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi.

Thank You