HMRI wins NASSCOM Award
Posted on: 23/Apr/2011 4:45:30 AM
HMRI has won the NASSCOM and KPMG “Healthcare IT Awards 2011” under the “Best Technology Solution for Healthcare Inclusion” category for its Telemedicine solution. This award recognises projects that have helped in greater outreach by taking the healthcare solutions to sparsely populated regions or to low-income groups. HMRI’s solution is a pioneering and unique multi-parameter, patient centric telemedicine solution in India. This innovative solution is a comprehensive digital solution integrating patient records, diagnostics, physical examination and clinical outcomes. The solution has been successfully deployed and is currently operational in Vallabhi village of Khammam district and the tribal belt of Araku valley in Andhra Pradesh.
“Healthcare IT Awards 2011” is an initiative of NASSCOM and KPMG, to recognize initiatives / projects that demonstrate growing role of technology in transforming healthcare service delivery in India. According to NASSCOM, ICT-enabled solutions in healthcare have the ability to transform and drive inclusive growth for India over the next decade.
HMRI’s solution is designed to handle the daunting challenges of access, availability and affordability in the rural and remote areas. It takes into account challenges of illiteracy amongst the beneficiary population, the low-skill levels of the existing health workers, the lack of adequate infrastructure like continuous internet bandwidth, and the lack of availability of medical specialists.
With an objective to improve the access of pregnant women to health care and diagnostic services, the telemedicine project at Araku valley is an HMRI-MacArthur Foundation initiative to reduce maternal morbidity in 140 habitations covering 33,700 tribal people. HMRI’s Telemedicine intervention in these remote tribal habitations has resulted in 279 live births out of 287 pregnancies that came to term in the last four months, which is a radical improvement over the past records. It has ensured that 94% of the home deliveries were attended to by a trained attendant and all high risk cases had a safe delivery so far. HMRI has also trained & empowered existing 111 Dais in these 140 habitations, with the latest procedures and precautions in conducting safe deliveries.
HMRI had earlier won the “Nasscom Social Innovation Honours 2010” in the “ICT-led innovation category by non-profit organisations” for its Health Helplline (104 Advice) flagship initiative in AP.
