5) Description of health product/service offering: eHealth-Care project is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of India's antiquated healthcare by use of information technology systems. eHealth-Care can achieve large cost savings and improve patient care by bringing the rural India health care systems into the information age. Health Cards issued to all the villagers on a fee who visit health centres for treatment (it holds details like, Registration Number, Password, individuals name, age, address & photograph) and details like (weight, blood group, allergies, diagnosis, treatment & medicine prescribed) is being uploaded and updated online which can be accessed from any where in the world. Online Medical advice will be arranged to the villager so that they need not to travel far off places. It has been experienced that whenever a disease is cured we generally misplace our prescription. And especially in rural area people tend to forget what all diseases they have gone through and generally not able to narrate to the doctor when required. For instance if doctor has to prescribe an ‘antibiotic’ to the patient, he has to have thorough knowledge of his past medical history. Which most of them do not have or not able to narrate as they are mostly illiterate. The system will save doctors times because at one glance he can see the patient’s past medical history and current medical reports after feeding User Id and password of the patient. The government can have exact report on: How many patients are being examined in a remote health centre? Can track down doctor’s presence? What all diseases prevalent in the area? Any spread of new disease can be known in minutes? Generally it happens that medicines which does not have any relevance for a particular area is being supplied without giving proper result. E:g, Typhoid medicines are made available along with Jaundice in area where people suffering from Jaundice.

6) Description of innovation: The sad fact is that processing a single health care transaction can cost less. Other industries have drastically reduced administrative costs by using modern information technology. Health care remains one of the few industries clinging to antiquated 20th century technology. This project will provide the tools for health care systems to make a great leap forward by using new technologies to cut costs. The system and process will definitely give the doctors working at PHCs some incentive to work in rural environment. Breakthroughs of this technology not only can save money, but also can provide more timely and accurate information. Through advances in technology, doctors should be able to access complete patient records. By adoption of computerized systems for writing prescriptions, errors due to mistaken prescriptions or illegible handwriting will be reduced. There is no excuse for patients to be harmed and even die when we have the technology to save them.

7) Operational model: Project outputs: –Patient data from cradle to grave –Data on attending physicians –Data on medicines administered –Data on medicinal supplies –Data on medical tests –Data on skills and resources available –Data for planning for a national, regional or local healthcare system –Data for healthcare insurance –Data on Epidemiology of the target population

8) Human resources: Mr. Athar Haque : President & Project Director He has completed Post-Graduate Diploma in International Business Management from FORE School of Management (FSM), New Delhi and Bachelor of Commerce from Delhi University. Also has some technical education namely, Diploma in RDBMS (Oracle 8 and Developer 2000) and Certificate in Computer Application. He has 11 years of professional experience and that too nine years in Information Technology & Consulting. 3 years in social research and development field. Presently, heading two organization since March 2001. One, eHealth-Care Foundation. (A registered NGO) where he is the President and promoting ‘eHealth-Care Project’. The project is to provide eHealth-Care, eEducation, eGovernance and eInsurance to the rural people of India using Information Technology. Second, M/s eHealth-Care™ (An Information Technology Company) where he is the Proprietor. He is also: Consultant to L N Mishra College of Business Management, Muzaffarpur.; Advisor to the Bihar Institute of Economic Studies, Patna. ; Visiting Faculty to the Institute of Computer Accountants, New Delhi

9) Key operational partnerships: Please browse www.ehealth-care.net/alliances.htm

10) Financial Sustainability

          • Fees charged to clients?: Yes

          • How do you assure affordability?: Issuance of Health cards [@ Rs.5/- to 10/- per card] to the people generate revenue. The revenue will be earned by other services like eInsurance, eGovernance, eBlack Board, eAgriculture, etc. The other services can be run from the Primary Health Centre Kiosk’s as generally a PHC / CHC work from 8 in morning till 2 in afternoon. Since the system will be free then after it can be used for other services and imparting the education till late in the evening to the villagers.

          • Earned incomes as a percentage of operating costs: 100

          • Other funding sources: As per 10a)

          • Strategy for long-term sustainability: Issuance of Health cards [@ Rs.5/- to 10/- per card] to the people generate revenue. The revenue will be earned by other services like eInsurance, eGovernance, eBlack Board, eAgriculture, etc. The other services can be run from the Primary Health Centre Kiosk’s as generally a PHC / CHC work from 8 in morning till 2 in afternoon. Since the system will be free then after it can be used for other services and imparting the education till late in the evening to the villagers

11) Current and Future Impact

          • Total number of clients: 40000

          • Clients in the past year: 0

          • Percentage of low-income clients: 100

          • Impact: Benefits to the Patients/Citizens: •A complete medical history of patients •Medical History updated online- accessed from any where on the web •Patient freed from keeping prescriptions for hospitals for further treatment. •Online Medical Advice will be arranged to the patients so that they need not travel to far off places. •Saving of the unnecessary travel and expenses for the patient and the family Benefits to the Doctors: •To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of antiquated healthcare system. •Doctors should be able to access complete patient records though they did not create them. •Computerized systems for writing prescriptions. •The system will save doctors time

          • Overall "market": Many International organisation are trying hard to implement the eHealth-Care project in their own country. The countries are Bangladesh, Nigeria, akistan, Sri Lanka, Burma and France.

12) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Start Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: To reach out to around 500 locations in 7 districts of India

13) Policy change: Freehand to the collectors & Deputy Commissioners to accelerate development, Less interference of politicians.

14) Origin of the initiative: The project ‘eSwasthya’ was conceptualized some three years back for the 21 health centres in the Madhubani district of Bihar. Mr. Athar Haque (President: eHealth-Care Foundation) & Mr. Nitish Mishra (Vice Chairman: eHealth-Care Foundation) jointly decided the modalities for the project. The project is awarded by Digital Partners Global a USA- based Non-Profit Organisation in presence of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 'Efforts to provide Health Card and online medical advice to the underprivileged in Bihar using Information Technology' for the year 2002-03. Some three years back we {eHealth-Care Foundation} thought if the concept is good for one district then it will be more beneficial for the whole country. We enriched the ‘eHealth-Care’ concept and took a plunge in taking the process on a national level with limited resources.

Contact Information:
Athar  Haque
President
eHealth-Care Foundation
(NGO)
D-81, Ground Floor, (Bliss), Kalkaji, New Delhi -110019
India
Tel: +91-9811257571; 9313764794
Fax: +91-11-51644688
Email: haque@ehealth-care.net
Website: www.ehealth-care.net