A web and mobile phone based service for health administrators, medical officers and health workers to track/monitor progress of Tuberculosis (TB) patients in real-time
Primary Information
Domain
Information & Communication Technology
Project No.
6919
Sanction and Project Initiation
Sanction No: 6919
Sanction Date: 03/04/2017
Project Initiation date: 03/07/2017
Project Duration: 24
Partner Ministry/Agency/Industry
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
Role of partner: Co-funding of the project
Support from partner: We are yet to receive the remaining funding from the partner ministry
Principal Investigator
Keyur Sorathia
IIT Guwahati
Host Institute
Co-PIs
Palash Talukdar
World Health Organization
Pratul Kalita
IIT Guwahati
Nayan Jyoti Das
State Tuberculosis (TB) Cell, Directorate of Health Services, Government of Assam
Paranjoy Bordoloi
State Tuberculosis (TB) Cell, Directorate of Health Services, Government of Assam
Dhrubajyoti Deka
World Health Organization
Gautom Boragohain
State Tuberculosis (TB) Cell, Directorate of Health Services, Government of Assam
Simanta Borah
State TB/HIV coordinator, State TB Cell, Government of Assam
Scope and Objectives
The broader aim of this proposal is to improve TB ecosystem in sync with existing government-supported TB initiatives. The objective is to develop a centralized ICT based ecosystem to empower health administrators and workers to track and monitor - initial defaulters, regular DOTS medication, retreatment defaulters and provide real-time updates to take preventive measures for category 1 and 2 TB patients and defaulters. The objective is also to educate DOTS providers, which in turn empowers community members.
Deliverables
A working web and mobile-based information system that is scalable across different regions with RNTCP. The project will deliver software codes & UI design components for a complete solution. The project will also provide plug-and-play software framework, installation guideline, and recommendations for easy and quick scalability. A strategic document and set up guidelines, enabling effective implementation of unique code generation, mapping to specific TB patients and efficient tracking of DOTS consumption A report clearly presenting the impact assessment in terms of - the reduction rate among initial & retreatment defaulters, consistency in DOTS consumption, reduction rate for a time taken to respond emergency situations and investigate learnability and memorability of healthcare contents presented through training modules
Scientific Output
The project is aimed to create a large societal impact in the domain of TB care. We have developed an ecosystem for end-to-end TB care which has not been conceptualized to date - enabling government stakeholders to track the patients and monitor the health progress in real-time.
Results and outcome till date
We have developed Swasthyaa (www.swasthyaa.com) combining - (a) a web-based software for real-time patient data (b) IVR system for reminders and DOTS intake updates to TB patients (c) newly designed TB blister packet and (d) adherence messages through an automated and personalized information on TB care. This also includes an Andriod based mobile application for Medical Officers for natural and intuitive patient data entry. Swasthyaa is currently deployed in 2 districts of Assam. It has more than 700 active TB presumptive patients using the Swasthyaa system. It also involves all the district TB officers, Medical Officers, Senior Treatment Supervisors, Lab technicians, patients and family members
Societal benefit and impact anticipated
As mentioned, Swasthyaa currently has 700 presumptive TB patients from two districts - Kamrup and Darrang of Assam. The initial defaulter rates are reduced from 28% to 16% in first 3 months. The reduction in retreatment defaulters is yet to be measured as the DOTS treatment completes in 6 months - hence the data will be made available in another 3 months.
Next steps
We aim to expand Swasthyaa in another 6 districts of Assam along with State TB Cell, Government of Assam in coming 6 months. We also aim to expand the project to nearby states - Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
Publications and reports
NA
Patents
NA
Scholars and Project Staff
3 project staff (2 research associates and 1 assistant project engineer) have been hired and actively working on this project
Challenges faced
The major difficulty is to increase adoption among regular lab technicians and medical officers - as they do not actively participate in the project. Moreover, they perform multiple duties - which reduces their active support in the project. This results in reduced patient tracking and health progress monitoring. Moreover, we need additional support from the National Health Mission (NHM) to increase adoption among mentioned health administrators.
Other information
Overall, the project has received tremendous support and acceptance among most health administrators and all patients. We need additional funding to increase the societal impact by expanding to the state of Assam and other 6 northeastern states. Moreover, we need active support from National Health Mission (NHM) to increase participation from regular non-RNTCP health administrators.
Financial Information
-
Total sanction: Rs. 49.87 lakhs
-
Amount received: Rs. 37.00 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Equipment: Rs. 2 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Manpower: Rs. 20.8 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Consumables: Rs. 1.30 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Contingency: Rs. 3.4 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Travel: Rs. 1.50 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Other Expenses: 0.75 lakhs
-
Amount utilised for Overheads: Rs. 6.28 lakhs
Equipment and facilities
Mobile phones, tablets, camera and a computer