The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and IT major Hewlett Packard on Tuesday announced the development of a system that would provide affordable healthcare to the rural poor and simultaneously facilitate better medicines for various ailments.
The system is based on a combination of the latest in IT, cloud computing, and standard shipping containers, which have become unusable for normal freight movement.
While the containers would be used for setting up basic health centres in remote areas at a much faster pace and at much lesser cost than a conventional brick and mortar centre, cloud computing would help scientists working in distant laboratories access physiological data required to make new medicines for different ailments. The system would also feature a telemedicine studio, a laboratory and a pharmacy.
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Director General of CSIR Samir Brahmachari said that with the new system, the Council was now positioned to take up novel research on affordable medicines, besides delivering cheap healthcare products and services at the doorsteps.
Country Managing Director of HP India Neelam Dhawan said the collaborative project was another step in the company’s endeavour to join hands with government health authorities and organisations to reinvent medical processes, modernise systems, and develop solutions that dramatically expand access, improve healthcare and save lives.
A pilot project of the system has been tried at a village in Kaithal district of Haryana in partnership with O.P. Jindal Gramin Jan Kalyan Sansthan, an NGO for rural welfare run by the Jindal group. The village comes under the Parliamentary constituency of Mr. Jindal.
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3M India, and Orion eService are also involved in the project. A press release issued at the launch function said more than 4,000 patients benefited in the first 100 days.
Union Minister for Science and Technology Jaipal Reddy launching the new system hoped there would be more such collaborations.