Microsoft Research Labs (MSR) India has collaborated with Operation Asha the largest non-governmental organisation in tuberculosis treatment and prevention, to provide the biometric fingerprint device to test and treat tuberculosis in India. Under the collaboration, training is provided to help health workers. To date, the biometric system has been deployed in more than 40 centres, with more than 60,000 medication doses administered to 3,000 patients.

The  biometric fingerprint device, a low-cost laptop or  netbook computer and a GSM modem enables information transmission in areas without reliable internet connections are installed at various health clinics. The patient’s finger print impression is registered through the biometric device and every time a dose is administered and the data is uploaded via a SMS (short message service) over the mobile phone, it is then recorded at a central location. The records help the health workers to track the patient’s dosage accurately and ensuring adherence to the full course of treatment. Over 50,000 drug doses have been administered so far, to 3000 TB patients across 35 clinics in the country.

With the three devices working together, patients who come to the clinic can scan a finger, with an electronic record of their visit logged onto the netbook using software built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Throughout the day, the record of patients visiting each clinic is sent to Operation ASHA’s central office using the GSM modem, allowing workers to track which patients came to each clinic using Microsoft SQL Server database software.

The biometric terminal is used daily in over 40 treatment centres, spanning Delhi, Mumbai, and Jaipur. Without a biometric system, health workers need to maintain  handwritten records, checking of paper-based treatment cards when patients come to  clinic to take the drug doses. From an administration standpoint, it was found difficult to handle patients at 225 centres, coming for treatment.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global emergency to combat multi drug resistant tuberculosis which is reported to have affected over nine million of which two million are from India.

There is a  single vaccine Bacille Calmette Guerin which is effective to protect children from some types of tuberculosis but not found to benefit adolescents and adults. TB is treatable and curable through a standard six-month programme of four antimicrobial drugs. In India, TB drugs are provided free by the government and administered under direct observation by health workers at clinics. It is important to finish the course of medication and  patients must come to clinics to take the medication. For this the  patients need to make over 40 visits to a clinic over a six-month period leading to  non completion of  treatment programmes, stated Bill Thies, lead Microsoft researcher,  working on the TB project.

TB is a social stigma disease in India where 100,000 women are abandoned by families   annually. Microsoft Research India wanted to address this issue while it decided to work with Operation ASHA, said Dr Shelly Batra, co-founder, Operation ASHA.