Piramal Foundation’s Swasthya project, Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI), has signed an agreement of service with the Government of Karnataka that aims to provide Health Information Help Line Services in the state through 104 BSNL telephone number. This service is being named as “Arogya Vani”.  This is in addition to the Health Information Helpline services operated successfully  by HMRI in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Assam. HMRI also provides Village Health Outreach Programme in Assam, Rajasthan and Orissa in Public Private Partnership with respective state governments.

V B Patil, commissioner, department of health and family welfare and Dr Balaji Utla, CEO, HMRI, in the presence of M Madan Gopal, principal secretary to Government of Karnataka, Health and Family Welfare signed the agreement on March 6, 2013.

As a part of the agreement, ‘Arogya Vani’ will assist people living in rural areas of the state, who face difficulty in accessing a qualified doctor. The helpline will ensure that these people get basic information on their health conditions and the available medical facilities through a process which is easy and accessible, throughout the year.

The helpline service is a robust real-time mechanism wherein any person can receive basic medical information, advice, counselling without visiting a doctor, pharmacist or a health centre. In addition, it provides information on healthcare service delivery-A provider of health care service such as a doctor, specialist, field healthcare workers (ASHAs ANMs) healthcare facility-Healthcare delivery centre such as a hospital/clinic, diagnostic centre, blood banks etc. health guidance-Information or advice or counselling on health, advice, grievance redressal on matters related to healthcare, counselling support, linkages with emergency support etc.

Arogya Vani will fill the gap for citizens, particularly living in remote rural areas, who have no reliable source for assistance on health due to the lack of appropriate and timely information.

To achieve this objective, Government of Karnataka, with HMRI as nodal agency, is establishing this 100 seat facility at IT Park at Hubli, and plans to scale it upto 300 seats soon. HMRI would operate, maintain and manage the project facilities by providing required man power & technology. As part of the agreement HMRI will install and commission the project within 90 days from the signing of agreement.

Arogya Vani will be another important milestone in Government of Karnataka’s well connected and distributed network of various facilities and programs across the state. Out of the 60 million population of Karnataka, over 60 per cent live in rural areas which will benefit from this service.

Recently, in March 2013, the Government of Maharashtra has also approved the establishment and operation of Primary Health Centres (PHC) in the tribal areas of Thane District, equipped with facilities for telemedicine. HMRI has been handed the responsibility of implementing  the telemedicine solution in these 10 PHCs of Thane District by linking them to the Health Advice Call Centre operated by HMRI from Pune.

Piramal Foundation, under its Swasthya vertical, operates HMRI, which is a unique model that is built on the backbone of telecom. 104, India’s central number for non-emergency health services, has been set up by HMRI with the support of the Indian government. The healthcare helpline has serviced over 60 million callers across 4 states - Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.

Supplementing the telemedicine call centres, it set up a fleet of mobile health vans that run in Assam,  Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. These HMRI vans run in partnerships with the respective state governments/social service organisations provide access to primary healthcare to remote villages where even first aid kits are unavailable. These vans are equipped with medical devices, technology and healthcare workers. The mobile health fleet has provided services to over 12 million people across 22,500 service points.