Mobile Health Around the Globe: The Real India – mHealth and Beyond

There is 1 doctor per 1000 people, but 1 NGO per 400 people in India. As per 2011 stats (World Bank), the % of GDP contributed to healthcare in India is 4.2. We are laggards when compared to countries like Afghanistan (7.8%), Yemen Rep.(5.2%), Uganda (9%), Nepal (5.5%). There is one NGO for less than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centers in India. My intention here is not to blame the Government here but to help understand the ground realities better.

 

Most of India’s estimated 1.2 billion people have to pay for medical treatment out of their own pockets. According to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry- Less than 15% of the population in India today has any kind of health-care coverage, be it community insurance, employers’ expenditure, social insurance etc. One of the major reasons that India’s poor incur debt is the cost of health care. Ajay Bakshi, a good friend and CEO of Max Healthcare mentioned, “We charge our patients about $400 to $500 per night in our hospital. But rather than treat one million customers at this rate, how do we instead treat 100 million customers at $10 per patient? The move from a high-ticket, low-volume operation to a low-ticket, high-volume operation is very difficult. Nobody in our industry knows how to do this.”

 

The question hence is, Can mHealth bring down healthcare costs? Is it a far-flung reality for the common man or feasible? The answer is YES. Here is one such case study that will help us understand the revolution mHealth can bring to India’s otherwise waning healthcare system.

 

E-HealthPoint combines water and wireless to provide healthcare in rural India- E Health Points (EHP) are units owned and operated by Healthpoint Services India (HSI) that provides families in rural villages with clean drinking water, medicines, comprehensive diagnostic tools, and advanced tele-medical services that bring a doctor and modern, evidence-based healthcare to their community.

 

They provided 4 basic things: