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“ICT is a vital tool for efficient delivery of healthcare services” Amod Kumar is an Indian Administrative Services officer of the 1995 batch, belonging to UP Cadre. He has held several positions in the UP government, some of which include, Special Secretary, Basic Education & Director, Mid-day-Meal; Special Secretary, Revenue and Special Secretary, IT. Currently, he is working in the capacity of Project Director, Maternal and Newborn Health Project (Manthan Project) at IntraHealth. Pratap Vikram Singh, in conversation with Amod Kumar finds out details of the MNH project and the effective use of ICT in the projects that Amod has been associated with
Please elaborate on the work being done in the health sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh by IntraHealth? Manthan Project is a US $4 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It aims to improve the health of mothers and newborns in northern India. Compared to other Indian states, Uttar Pradesh has the highest percentage of maternal and neonatal deaths in India. With a duration of four years, this project will work with the Uttar Pradesh state government to identify proven, effective mother and neonatal health (MNH) interventions; advocate at district, state, and national levels to promote the adoption and scale-up of these interventions and expand healthcare services to more mothers and newborns. Being one of the UN Millennium Development Goals, reduction in child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, the existing state of neonatal health is not encouraging worldwide. Reports suggest out of an estimated 130 million infants born each year worldwide, 4 million die in the first 28 days of life. Three-quarters of neonatal deaths occur in the first week, and more than one-quarter occur in the first 24 hours. Neonatal deaths account for 40 percent of deaths under the age of 5 years worldwide. Two-thirds of the world’s neonatal deaths occur in just 10 countries, mostly in Asia. Almost two third of the mortality, that is 67 percent, occurring in the infant group happens with neonatal category. Speaking India centric, there are some critical managerial and administrative gaps in the way government has dealt
with on these healthcare and nutritional issues, which have lead to the poor state of delivery of services. With intent to eliminate these gaps, the project objective is to put innovations in the plan itself so that it is completely functional, with the least error. Another major focus is on to rope in the private sector in facilitating quality health care services. We would explore the adaptability and application of successful models like Chiranjeevi in Gujarat and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) at Central level. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh has got a successful model known as Janani, which has recently been evaluated by UNICEF and involves facility assessment. How do you propose to use ICT for better delivery and monitoring of services? We see ICT as a vital tool for efficient delivery of healthcare services. Although leveraging ICT is still at a conceptual stage, we would be using ICT in threefour ways. First is to reach to the ultimate client through SMS, educate them on remedies and initiate a behavioral change. We plan to direct IVRS calls, giving reminders about the precautions and timely intake of medicines. We also want to educate and remind the ASHA workers (the healthcare workers in the state) through the use of multimedia-smart phones, which are now available at much cheaper prices. We can store a video on educating the workers and aiding them in better counseling. Another agenda is to improve monitoring through generation of management information systems (MIS)
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