Ehealth Point India PDF

e-Health Point
Transforming Healthcare Delivery in Rural

Punjab
June 2012
Governance Knowledge Centre

Promoted by Department of Administrative Reforms
and Public Grievances
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,
Government of India
http://indiagovernance.gov.in/
Researched and Documented by
OneWorld Foundation India

www.oneworld.net.in
[email protected]

Promoted by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Health Point: Transforming Healthcare
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
Transparency and Accountability

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................

................................
.................................................................. 2
Methodology................................................................................................................................
................................
.............................................. 3
Background ................................................................................................................................
................................
................................................ 3
Objective ................................................................
................................................................................................
..................................................... 6
Programme Design ................................................................................................
................................
................................................................... 6
Key Stakeholders................................
................................................................................................
............................................................. 7
Process Flow ................................................................................................
................................
.................................................................... 7
Financial Funding ................................................................................................
................................
......................................................... 10
Achievements ................................................................................................................................
................................
.......................................... 11
Challenges In Implementation ................................................................................................
.............................................. 12
Potential for Replication................................................................................................
................................
......................................................... 13
Sustainability of the Project ................................................................................................
................................
................................................... 13
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................
................................
............................................... 14
References ................................................................................................................................
................................
................................................ 16
Appendix A Interview Questionnaire ................................................................
.............................................................. 17
1
Researched and documented by

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Executive Summary
Health facilities in India are in a deplorable condition. Sources of drinking water are nonnon
existent for approximately 200,000 rural communities and the situation gets worsened since an
even larger number have no effective access to qualified doctors, modern
modern diagnostic tests, or a
licensed pharmacy within their locality. Statistics show that there are about 2.5 million informal
health providers in rural India as opposed to 60,000 doctors on whom the rural community
relies for variety of their medical treatment.
treatment. Also, the informal pharmacies engage in selling
fake and low potency medicines that community members are often unaware of.
Designed explicitly to address these unmet needs, the EHealth
E Health Point (EHP) model is a unique
initiative to bring together preventive
prev
care,, that is, access to safe drinking water and curative care,
that is, access to diagnostics, doctors and modern health services by bringing to rural areas
medical facilities hitherto limited to urban areas.
The E-Health
Health Point model has proven to be a pioneering and exclusive model as it relies on use
of a combination of various existing and emerging technologies (like broadband and
telemedicine, electronic health records, point of care and mobile diagnostics, and reverse
osmosis based water purification)
ication) and de-skilling
de skilling of many aspects of primary care through
standardised procedures and thorough training of local staff. Along with these, the initiative
has been able to bring cost of medical treatment affordable for most rural households. For the
below
elow poverty line (BPL) population, EHP provides further discounts. These units provide
clean drinking water, generic medicines, comprehensive diagnostic
diagnostic services, and advanced
tele-medical
medical services to the poor at subsidized rates.
In order to understand their
heir customers and patients better, EHP has included a feedback
facility where in people can drop in their suggestions in a designated box; suggestions are duly
followed up. Patients can also give their feedback by calling the helpline number of the EHP
grievance
ievance cell, which also helps in addressing their concerns and queries. Follow up is done on
the health of the patients through random calls made by customer care executives. EHP
maintains health records confidentially Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software
sof
developed
by leading companies in the United States.
Thus, EHP has developed and implemented an innovative, effective, culturally acceptable,
replicable, participative, scalable and sustainable model to reduce health inequities and
enhance human productivity. Being a new contribution to the field, EHP has had direct social
impact resulting in other states expressing interest in replicating the initiative.
2

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Methodology
Health care services in India are blemished by class inequalities, inadequate healthcare
hea
opportunities for disadvantaged groups, poor accessibility to healthcare in rural areas and
rampant corruption. The same trend is perceptible in Punjab (Government of Punjab, 2004).
This necessitates governments active role either in the form of direct
direct provision of health care
services or regulation of supply of health care facilities by the private sector for ensuring
equitable access, particularly to the poor (Walsh, 1997).
Taking into account the lack of safe drinking water and proper health care
ca
facilities,
Healthpoint Services India set up E-Health
E Health Point (EHP) units in 5 districts of Punjab with the
support of the state government. The EHP employs multipronged strategies aiming not only at
preventive care (access to safe drinking water) but also
also curative care (access to doctors,
diagnostics, and medicines) in modern, purpose-built
purpose built clinics in rural areas for improving
wellness, productivity, and quality of life.
The Governance Knowledge Centre (GKC) research team identified EHP as a best practice
practi since
it is a unique initiative in India that seeks to work towards improving the health care system
along with providing safe drinking water in rural areas. This document was prepared making
use of both primary and secondary research methods. Desk-based
Desk
d research was conducted to
gather most of the information on the background and the operations of the project. Further, a
telephonic interview was conducted with Dr. Sumeet Ahluwalia (AVP and Head, Health
Operations, EHP) as part of the primary research to
to elaborate upon the findings of the
secondary research. Efforts have been made to present this information as objectively as
possible.
Background
Health care outcomes in India represent a continuously degenerating scenario. Providing
accessible and qualitative
tative healthcare to a vast population still remains an uphill task for
medical service providers. One of the primary healthcare challenges that the country faces is
the availability of safe drinking water, a vital human need that is largely unmet. Polluted
Pollute
drinking water causes water borne diseases, exacting a toll on human health. Trapping millions
in cycles of poverty and poor health, it also renders a loss in economic opportunities by making
people unable to earn their livelihood. This necessitates governments
governments active role either in
directly providing health care services or regulating health care supply by the private sector to
ensure equitable access, particularly to the poor (Walsh, 1997).
3

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
During the late 1990s, policy makers increased spending on health

health to counter Indias failure in
achieving effective health outcomes but issues pertaining to quality of spending along with lack
of proper incentives for delivery of public health services persisted. Realising this, the Indian
government identified the need for public policy action and, therefore, implemented the
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve public sector delivery of health care
services, especially in poorer states. However, NRHM has constantly suffered from issues
pertaining to corruption
uption and inefficiency in procurement and delivery of medicines. Long
standing problems with the delivery of appropriate medicines and equipment were not fixed or
even ameliorated by greater spending. Sub-centers
Sub centers and rural dispensaries seldom received the
appropriate of supplies appropriate for the specific needs of patients. Long-standing
Long
quality
issues were not challenged by increased spending in the sector.
In the developing world, the cumulative effect of water-related
water related diseases has throttled economic
growth and pressurised the already overburdened healthcare systems. Absence of local
expertise in the construction and maintenance of water systems, a lack of necessary financial
resources for their construction, wars and conflicts, and natural disasters have often obstructed
provision of safe and secure drinking water supply. Further constrictions blemishing health
care services in India include the perceived corrupt and ineffective state governments, political
turmoil and its aftermath, class and caste inequalities,
inequalities, denial of opportunities to disadvantaged
groups, and poor accessibility to water sources and health care centres. Lack of effective
funding due to inadequate assignments to local bodies and lack of local institutional capacity
are some of the other bottlenecks in delivering public services down to the local level,
particularly rural governments.
The health care scenario is Punjab was not different from the national scenario. In spite of being
one of the richest states in terms of economic development,
development, Punjab lagged behind on account of
social development, particularly in the area of health. In 1995, a World Bank-supported
Bank
Secondary State Health System Development Project was launched in Punjab to renovate existing
health care facilities, improve the delivery and quality of health care services in secondary
health care hospitals, broaden access to health care facilities and improve efficiency in the
allocation and use of health
ealth resources. The performance of the Punjab Health Systems
Corporation (PHSC) was viewed as mixed. It was criticised for its inefficiency and for
instituting user charges that worked against the interests of the poorer sections of population.
According to the Punjab Human Development Report 2004, public investment in health was
very low. The state budget allocated meagre resources to both primary and secondary health
care sectors. Primary health care suffered majorly due to lack of investment and, thus, the
poorer sections of population were pushed towards procuring health care from the expensive

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
and unregulated private sector (Government of Punjab, 2004). Lack of accessibility and
availability of clean drinking water and proper health care services led to
to increase in number of
water borne diseases and aggravated the problem.
Against this backdrop, Healthpoint Services India (HSI) came into existence to counter the
problems pertaining to health care in Punjab. The seeds of the partnership between the cofounders, Amit Jain, an Indian clean water pioneer, and Al Hammond, a global baseof-thebase
pyramid expert, were planted during the Santa Clara Social Benefit Incubator in 2008, where
they realised significant synergies between their ideas about delivering healthcare and
associated health services to rural communities in India through a well-designed
well
social
enterprise. This was an amalgamation of ideas on telemedicine-pharmaceuticals
telemedicine pharmaceuticals-diagnostics
that needed demand generation and the delivery of clean water in order to attract customers to
clinics and produce both demand and revenue. Resources, skills, and capabilities of both these
pioneers were complementary and together they brought perspective on models for business at
the base-of-the-pyramid
pyramid and knowledge
knowledg about willingness-to-pay
pay and the much needed social
marketing expertise, operational know-how,
know how, and experience with implementation. Al and
Amit, along with the social enterprise incubation services of Ashoka, the global association of
leading social entrepreneurs,
preneurs, started the Healthpoint Services India, a forfor-profit organisation.
Health Points (EHP) are units owned and operated by Healthpoint Services India with the
E-Health
prime concern to provide families in rural villages with clean drinking water, medicines,
medicine
comprehensive diagnostic tools, and advanced telemedical services by connecting qualified
doctors and modern, evidence-based
evidence based healthcare with the rural community. EHP overcame
problems of accessibility by providing quality services at affordable prices and
a implementing a
technology-based
based social enterprise for low income groups. The organisation has worked
towards altering the perspective of the public regarding private health sector.
EHP identifies its area of operation based on primary and secondary data
data collection along with
inputs from the stakeholders. It, then, effectively combines prevailing and evolving
technologies in the domains of health and water services provision to achieve unique synergies
with an aim of enhancing affordability and quality in
i its services. Functioning since the last 5
years, the organisation has its branches spread over 5 districts in the Malwa region of southern
Punjab with a total of 550 units currently in operation.
5

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
Figure 1:: Patients receiving medical care at EHP units in Punjab
Objective
Healthpoint Services India, a for-profit
for profit social enterprise, has launched the initiative of setting
up innovative clinics termed E-Health
E Health Points in remote villages and towns where doctors are
scarce and potablee water is scarce. The chief objective of this initiative is to catalytically
transform rural and peri-urban
urban healthcare and subsequently contribute to the Millennium
Development Goals and Indias National Rural Health Mission via a service delivery model
that
hat uniquely leverages technology in healthcare and water sectors.
Programme Design
The organisational structure of EHP is such that it has a head office in Delhi, a regional office
which is currently in Bhatinda, Punjab
and field units that are the health points
and water points. The head office is
mainly accountable for handling top
management and finances whereas the
regional
office
handles
Salient Features
Use of clean water to decrease rates of water-borne
water
diseases and increase footfalls in the clinics to raise
awareness about health issues
regional
operations and the IT sector. Among the

delivery units, each water point has one
water operator and one water promoter
Innovative idea of positioning preventive care (access

to safe drinking water) together with curative care
(access to doctors, diagnostics, and medicines) in a
modern, purpose-built
built clinic in rural villages.
and the health point has clinical assistants

who are Auxiliary Nurse Midwives
(ANM),, health coordinators, pharmacists,
and lab technicians. Health points also have water points attached to them.

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Key Stakeholders
E HealthPoint partnered with mHealth Alliance and Ashoka Innovators for the Public
Health Foundation of India for implementing newer pilot approaches for improving
improvin
maternal and child health.
health
On October 28, 2009, the Naandi Foundation,, Ashoka and Healthpoint Services started a
new model to confront the challenges and transmute the rural health sector in India.
There has been a recent collaboration of EHP with Procterr &Gamble Futureworks for
learning and investing partnership.
Public sector stakeholders:

stakeholders: State governments and local level panchayats and public
institutions such as National Rural Health Mission, Public Health Foundation of India,
Jansankhya Sthirtha Kosh,, etc.
Health care providers and customers:

customers: licensed doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians, and
village health workers who are taking part in the EHP initiative.
Agent investors and impact investors:

investors: who look at various criteria to validate the
organisations
ations work and justify their investments.
Community stakeholders:
stakeholders: the communities that benefit from EHP initiative
Process Flow
DETERMINE TARGET AREA OF OPERATION AND CUSTOMER BASE
With the dual aim of providing good quality preventive care along with curative
c
care that is
not only affordable but also easily accessible by rural poor, EHP units are currently operational
in 5 districts in the Malwa region of Punjab. Healthpoint identifies its target areas based on the
information available, field visits, primary
primary and secondary data collection and feasibility of
setting up the units.
The enterprise selected Southern Punjab as its launch pad since it is a poor region with low per
capita income. Since Healthpoint Services was able to acquire local support in this area
(through an introduction to the ex-finance
ex finance minister), it became easier for them to lay the
foundation. Rural Punjab is classified into 3 income groups:
Topmost 5 percent: Wealthy population that can readily afford health services.
7

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
Dominant middle 60--65

65 percent: Successful farmers, merchants, and such like with an
income of about $2 per day per family member. This section can afford medical services
at costs similar to that of Healthpoint Services.
Lowermost 30 percent: Landless immigrants and migrants

migrants who typically cannot procure
medical services if they are not free of cost.
The core market for Healthpoint Services India is the middle 60-65
60 65 percent population though
efforts are being made to capture the bottom 30 percent of the population via public-private
partnerships and offering subsidies.
WATER TREATMENT
Advanced Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) units provide safe drinking water on a monthly subscription
basis as a preventative measure against water-borne
water borne diseases. EHP water points have a water
source
ce building and an R.O. plant to purify water. Various steps of filtration take place and
purified water is distributed thereafter. A subscription fee of INR 75 ($1.50) is charged per
month for a household and is often equivalent to about half-day
half day wage in the rural settings in
India, and provision of 20 litres of clean drinking water on a daily basis is assured. Water point
has a catchment area of about 1000 households on an average catering to approximately 60006000
7000 of population in that area. The staff members
members at EHP units raises awareness about health
issues and encourage early treatment of medical conditions as villagers come to these units for
their daily water supplies. Frequent visits to EHPs also provide social cover for patients with
socially taboo
o conditions, such as tuberculosis or HIV. Facilities, staff, and technical support is
utilised by EHP unit more efficiently than separately operating water treatment units, clinics,
and pharmacies, enabling lower costs for patients.
Figure 2: An EHP with water point attached to it

Source: E-Health Point
8

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

TELE-MEDICAL
MEDICAL CONSULTATION
As there is a dearth of doctors practising in
remote villages, licensed medical doctors
and trained health workers become the
need of the hour. EHP, through its unique
idea to bring the doctors to the patients
through the use of wireless broadband to
conduct
tele-medical
medical
consultation
via
video-conferencing,
conferencing, proved to be a really
successful initiative. EHP health points
have a catchment area of 3000 households
on an average. The consultation fee
Figure3: Telemedical
dical training session at an EHP
unit
Source: e-health
health point
charged at Healthpoint Services Indias

urban tele-medical
medical centres is a meagre fee
of
about INR 20 ($ 0.40) per consultation. Consultation rooms are equipped with the tele-medicine
tele
system that is a screen to view the doctor and diagnostic tools. Clinical assistants (ANMs) set
up the video conference between the patient and the doctor. To make villagers more
comfortable, the doctors
rs are sourced from local areas for linguistic and cultural familiarities
and are specially trained in providing tele-medical
tele medical consultations and identifying such cases
that may require referral for advance treatment. In order to overcome the distance barrier
barrie and
boost association with the villagers, these doctors periodically meet the community in EHP
villages. Pilots are conducted for procuring the services of specialist doctors from reputed
medical colleges and hospitals to provide affordable consultancy services
services to EHP beneficiaries.
Situations that are beyond the primary care treatment scope of the EHP unit are referred to
district hospitals or specialist doctors. These
situations include childbirth, acute trauma,
heart
attacks,
cancer,
accident
related
emergencies and others.

EHP has both full time and part time doctors
working in its units. They also have women
doctors in their team in order to make female
patients
more
comfortable.
In
cases
of
emergency, there is a government facility of an

ambulance service (that can be accessed
acce
by
dialling 108) whereas in situations where the
Fig 4: Ecg
cg heart diagnostic at ehp unit
Source: e-health
health point
treatment is beyond the scope of EHP, the patients are referred to government hospitals

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
through the network of EHP. Provisions are also made in case a patient is willing to go to
private hospitals.
ADVANCED
NCED DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
Advanced diagnostic tools such as digital stethoscope, non-invasive
non invasive blood pressure monitor
and electrocardiogram (ECG) are housed in the EHP units and more than 70 additional
diagnostic tests are facilitated. Electronic health records are used to share the results with the
doctors and a real-time
time Disease Surveillance Capability is used to alert the local and state health
officials about the outbreak of new diseases. Diagnostics related material from reputed sources
is further sourced by
y the EHP and an admirable quality audit system is instituted to provide
quality assurance to the customer. Most of the diagnostics tests are provided at high discounts
as compared to those in the nearest towns or cities. Recently introduced mobile diagnostics
diagnos
provide patients with a higher degree of convenience and helps enhance health-seeking
health
behaviour amongst the communities.
MEDICINES
Each EHP has a robust generic pharmacy where licensed pharmacists distribute medicines to
the patients at subsidised rates. The pharmacy provides primarily generic medicines as well as
a range of over-the-counter
counter drugs at low costs to the patients. Around 50 percent discount is
given on the list prices along with the guarantee of genuine medicines sourced directly from
authorised channel members of leading pharmaceutical companies.
Financial Funding
ESI is a for-profit
profit social enterprise. It works on a revenue generating model in order to ensure
financial sustainability of the initiative. The initial set up cost is $20000
$20000 for a health point and
$12000 for a water point. Owners plan to spend $50,000 per village and probably $30 million of
investment capital per country for which the need to upscale their project and need to do more
than 100 units which is the current scenario.
scenario. They need to get enough units on a large scale so
that capital markets and the global health market start viewing this as an alternative method to
solve problems relating to healthcare provision in rural areas.
The doctors are paid around INR 30,000 per month. The village health workers are paid by
them, the unit staff is hired by them and train is imparted from the village, all of these covered
using patient fees. The health consultation fee is INR 20 per consultation
consultation with discounts being
provided for below poverty line population. In case of surgeries, patients are referred to a
network of doctors either in the government hospitals or in the private ones wherever they are
10
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Government of India
more comfortable. Potable water costs around

around INR 75 per month for 20 litres of supply on a
daily basis.
Achievements
Since its inauguration in November 2009, the initial three EHP units (and subsequently opened
additional units) have provided more than
33,500 tele-medical consultations,
Success story EHP units in Punjab
performed 19,500 diagnostic
A villager from Punjab consulted the doctors
investigations, given Hepatitis B
virtually about his shoulder and neck pain.
Vaccination to 3,000 rural inhabitants and
He had previously visited a government
filled 39,000 prescriptions, and are
doctor who
o advised him to take vitamins
providing safe drinking water to 5,00,000
and aspirins. The pain

in still persisted, and
users daily. At present, there are 100 water
even
points and 8 health points in operation in
consultation, the doctor discovered that the
the selected 5 districts of Punjab. It has a
villager has a history of seizures and
direct social impact

mpact by providing the
suspected
underserved rural and peri-urban

urban
referred to a specialist and

an epilepsy was
communities with greater access to high
confirmed. He now buys the necessary
quality healthcare and safe drinking water
medicine from EHP clinic and is back to
services resulting in better health and well
work.
being, enhanced productivity and
allows for efficient use of a doctors time and
improved standard of living. It also
also brings high quality patient care to
provides
rovides employment opportunities to the
remote villages.
villagers.
got
worse.
epilepsy.
Such
During
The
tele-medicine
medicine
the
villager
video
was
consultation
Source: E Health Point
Recent awards and recognition of Health Points model include being adjudged the global
winner of Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders jointly instituted by the Ashoka
Changemakers and Robert
bert Wood Johnson Foundation, winner of the GENPACT NASSCOM
Social Innovation Honours 2012, recognition as one the 50 Most Innovative Companies by
Technology Review, MIT, winner of the Tech Award - Nokia Health Award 2011, winner of the
Sankalp Award 2011for Best Emerging Enterprise in Health, Water and Sanitation Sector,
Sector winner of
the Saving Lives at Birth: Grand Challenge Award 2011 jointly instituted by USAID, Norwegian
Government , Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and The World
Bank.
11

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Challenges in Implementation
mplementation
During the initial stages of project implementation, Healthpoint Services faced certain
challenges. There existed a high rate of attrition of talented middle level and field staff, low
attractiveness of this model for the conventional venture capitalists, deep-rooted
deep
consumer
preference for reaching out to urban facilities coupled with shortage of electricity and poor
internet connectivity in the rural areas. However, steps were taken to mitigate these issues
through thee tie up of EHP with Reliance and other leading companies along with support and
cooperation from the government.
Prevalence of a culturally sensitive context
Villagers are often hesitant in discussing their medical conditions with doctors. This is largely
largel
because villagers are not habituated to consult formal health care services for their ailments.
Most of their medical requirements were hitherto attended to by a local, often untrained,
medical practitioner.
Healthpoint Services India realized this and undertook a variety of steps to counter prevalent
cultural bottlenecks. Local doctors were sourced to enable cultural and linguistic familiarity
with the context of operation. Separate rooms were built in EHP units for medical examination
of men and women.. Female patients are attended to by women doctors. Water facilities in
EHPs allow villagers to visit these centres frequently and this offers social cover for patients
with socially-taboo
taboo conditions, such as tuberculosis or HIV.
Lack of awareness regarding
ing modern forms of medicine
Some of the village people were initially apprehensive towards the usage of modern medicines;
ayurvedic treatment was still considered more effective by them. The vast majority of rural
individuals were looking for solutions using traditional medicine and EHP was able to provide
them. The villagers have gradually come to take pride in availing formal health care facilities
provided by well-built
built clinics with an on-site
on site licensed generic pharmacy and licensed doctors
in the rural setting.
Doctors unwillingness to serve in remote villages
Lack of availability of licensed doctors in remote villages has been a persistent problem. EHP
came up with a unique idea to bring doctors to the patients in these rural areas instead of
bringing
ing patients to doctors in the cities. It has set up video consultation using wireless and
broadband internet services as well as tele-medicine
tele medicine services to help mitigate the distance
barrier.
12

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Potential for Replication
eplication
EHP is a social business enterprise model having high potential for being replicated in a variety
of rural settings. It qualifies to be of substantial value and interest to public sector
organisations, corporate social responsibility agencies, social investors and mainstream venture
investorss and financial institutions.
Healthpoint Services India plans to upscale their operations across Punjab and the rest of the
country. Various Indian states have expressed an interest in replicating the practice in their
specific contexts. Further, Healthpoint
Healthpoint Services is partnering with the local government and
with Ashoka to scale its operations in India as well as pilot the model in additional countries. A
mutually advantageous partnership has been fostered with P&G wherein P&G will deliver
investment and
nd technical support and, in turn, learn about the rural services market by
participating in it with Healthpoint. Healthpoint plans to undertake a momentous publicpublic
private partnership with the Rajasthan Government. By partnering with the government, it
would
ld receive support for setting-up
setting up EHPs in areas where the representation of the formal
Public sector service delivery mechanism is low but the necessity of it and demand is high.
Sustainability
ustainability of the Project
P
EHP is a sustainable social business enterprise with great degree of economic returns for the
beneficiary rural communities. This model has the potential to alter the way in which
governments and private sector view and address health care. Furthermore, it can help millions
of people lead a productive and healthy life.
The initiative is financially sustainable. The major heads of expenditure include doctors
salaries of about INR 30,000 per month, payments made to village health workers, unit staff
members hired and trained from the village. EHP covers these costs with the consultation fee of
INR 20 charged from every patient. The turnover of patients at EHP units is collectively
sufficient to make this practice economically sustainable.
EHP provides clean and safe drinking water in remote villages and
and thereby ensures that its
operations are environmentally sustainable.
People in remote villages have enthusiastically accepted this service. Women in particular
appreciate telemedicine because it gives them access to women doctors. Since the doctor is not
no
located in the same area, women are convinced of the confidentiality of information they share
with the doctors. Post-service
service surveys report that people feel they are getting a higher quality
13

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
service than they could find elsewhere and they think the pricing
pricing is fair. People who visit the
EHP clinics in Punjab are impressed with the range and quality of the services provided (70
different diagnostic tests and about 400 medicines with doctors dealing with or detecting and
referring to specialists several health
health problems, including cancer, epilepsy and brain tumours).
Paying for securing medical services instils a sense of pride in consumers who, until recently,
had limited access to formal health care facilities. The model also provides multiple
employment opportunities
portunities to villagers. Owing to these factors, the EHP units provide a socially
sustainable model of rural healthcare provision.
HSI has received substantial governmental support for its sustained existence. It has recently
entered into a partnership with
with the Rajasthan government. Several leading companies in ee
health, pharmaceuticals, water technology, and consumer goods as well as government
representatives from various countries visit the EHP sites regularly.
Conclusion
Healthpoint Services India brought four technologies to the rural community that either did not
exist or were not affordable few years ago - advanced and cheap water treatment, broadband
internet services, efficient telemedical software, advanced point-of-care
point
care diagnostics.
The organizations
nizations key innovation was to put preventive care (access to safe drinking water)
together with curative care (access to doctors, diagnostics, and medicines) in a modern,
purpose-built
built clinic in rural settings. Though a successful initiative, it needs to
t standardise
procedures and improve efficiency in order to continue with its streak of innovations and
match the expansion in scale of operations.
Research was carried out by OneWorld Foundation India (OWFI), Governance Knowledge Centre (GKC) team.
Docum
Documentation
was created by Gamika Takkar
For further information, please contact Rajiv Tikoo, Director, OWFI, at [email protected]
14

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
15

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

References
E HealthPoint. Web. 18 June.2012. < http://ehealthpoint.com/>.
E HealthPoint combines water and wireless to provide healthcare in rural India. Dowser. 5
May. 2011. Web. 18 June. 2012. <http://dowser.org/e-health-combines-water
<
water-and-wireless-toprovide-healthcare-facilities-in
in-rural-india/>.
Center for Market Innovations. Web.
Web 18 June. 2012.
<http://healthmarketinnovations.org/program/e
http://healthmarketinnovations.org/program/e-health-point-0/>.
E HealthPoint transforming rural healthcare. Ashoka Changemakers.. 21 September. 2011. Web.
19 June. 2012. <http://www.changemakers.com/innovations4health/entries/new
http://www.changemakers.com/innovations4health/entries/new
http://www.changemakers.com/innovations4health/entries/new-entry-150
16

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

Appendix A Interview Questionnaire
Q
Background
1. What was the motivation behind the EHP initiative?
2. How did you come up with this innovative idea to put preventive care (access to safe
drinking water) together with curative care (access to doctors, diagnostics, and medicines)?
3. What kind of drinking water facilities and medical services existed
existed in Punjab and other
areas of your operation prior to the initiation of EHP?
i.
How is EHP an improved delivery model over the existing ones?
ii.
In how many states/districts/blocks is the project currently operational?
iii.
How many EHP units are currently in operation?

opera
iv.
How were the target areas identified?
4. Who are the key stakeholders in the project and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Programme Design
Process components curative care
5. What is the organisational structure of an EHP? Please provide details
detail on the human
resources involved and their exact roles.
i.
Do these doctors work elsewhere also? If yes, then how much time does they devote
towards this initiative?
ii. Do you have female doctors as well on the team of doctors to make women more
comfortable
at are the medical equipments that all EHPs are equipped with? Which facilities are
6. What
provided by the EHP units?
7. Where are the patients referred to in case of cases beyond the scope of primary care
treatment?
i.
Where is the centre and how is it operated?
ii.
How are the doctors sourced for these centres?
iii.
Considering that patients with conditions beyond the scope of primary health
care are sent to other centres, what arrangements are made for their
transportation?
8. How are the health records of patients maintained?

maintained? Are they updated regularly?
9. Do you have a toll free number/service helpline to help villagers in case of emergency?
10. Do you offer transportation/ambulance services to villagers in case there is any emergency?
11. Do you have any grievance cell/customer feedback
feedback centre? If yes, how is it run?
12. How does mobile consultation function?
17

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

i.
What are the charges that accrue to the user for calling on this number?
ii.
How is follow up on the patients condition done?
Process components preventive care

13. Where is water sourced from for the reverse osmosis process?
14. What kind of infrastructure is involved in the treatment of water?
15. What process is followed in the treatment of water?
16. Can you explain how this purified water is then distributed?
17. How do villagers
rs collect this water? How many centres cater to the need for the distribution
of water?
Awareness generation
18. How was the support of local doctors secured? Were they apprehensive about working for
this initiative?
19. When villagers come for their daily supply of water, do you supply to them other useful
information regarding healthcare as well?
20. How else do you spread awareness in the village community?
21. How did you manage to convince women in the community to use your services?
Capacity building
22. How do you train
in the villagers to be adept at using EHP?
23. Was there any sort of training process for the doctors hired under this project?
24. How do you train the nurses /helpers working at the EHP units?
Technology
25. Were the villagers initially averse to the use of technology? How were they made
comfortable on this front?
26. What technology is involved in video consultation? (Wireless broadband, screen, etc.)
27. Can you throw some light on the softwares used for front end and back end development?
Financial model
28. Can you explain in detail the funding model (major heads of expenditure, daily operational
costs, and costs of development) of the project?
29. How much are the villagers charged in return for different services? Is it a uniform fee for
all or does it depend on the different
d
groups of users and services?
18

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012
30. Do medical services offered include operations/surgeries as well? If yes, what percentage of
the total costs is borne by the patients?
31. Can you shed some light on the financial sustainability of the project? How do you offer
these services at subsidised rates and still make profits?
32. Who handles the financial accounts/collections at the EHP centres?
Monitoring and evaluation
33. Do you share the results and health status of the villagers with the government?
i.
If yes, how do you follow up the use of this data?
ii.
If no, how is the data utilised by you?
34. What metrics are used to assess the performance of the project?
35. How do you monitor the performance of EHP units as to whether they are running
smoothly or not?
Impact
Achievements
36. What has been the overall impact of this initiative? How do you assess the betterment in
health status of the beneficiaries?
37. Please provide latest data on the following:
i.
Total number of EHPs
ii.
Percentage decrease in the rate of water-borne

water
diseases
iii.
Number of prescriptions
iv.
Tele-medicine
medicine consultations
v.
Diagnostic investigations
vi.
Number of users of these services
Challenges
38. What were/are the major challenges faced in the implementation of this program and steps
taken to mitigate them?
39. Did you face any friction from the government? If yes, how were you able to counter it?
40. What kind of infrastructural bottlenecks were faced in the remote villages? How were these
overcome?
Enhancements
41. Have any enhancements been planned for inclusion in the project?
i.
How many more districts does EHP plan to cover?

19

Government of India
Case Study
Health
E-Health
Heal
Delivery
in Rural Punjab
June 2012

ii.
Has there been any effort to advocate the up scaling of EHP at the state level?
iii.
Are there any other services planned for inclusion in the project?
42. What do you think are the necessary preconditions for the success of such an initiative?
Have any other states showed interest in replicating EHP?
43. In case of withdrawal of EHP units from the current areas of operation, how do you think
improved medical and
d drinking water facilities will be sustained in these areas?
20

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e-Health Point

Transforming Healthcare Delivery in Rural

Governance Knowledge Centre

Researched and Documented by

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

Executive Summary ................................................................................................

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

During the late 1990s, policy makers increased spending on health

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

Figure 1:: Patients receiving medical care at EHP units in Punjab

operations and the IT sector. Among the

Innovative idea of positioning preventive care (access

and the health point has clinical assistants

Researched and documented by

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

Public sector stakeholders:

Health care providers and customers:

Agent investors and impact investors:

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

Dominant middle 60--65

Lowermost 30 percent: Landless immigrants and migrants

Figure 2: An EHP with water point attached to it

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

charged at Healthpoint Services Indias

emergencies and others.

emergency, there is a government facility of an

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Transparency and Accountability

OneWorld Foundation India

Governance Knowledge Centre

Promoted by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

Transparency and Accountability

more comfortable. Potable water costs around

Success story EHP units in Punjab

performed 19,500 diagnostic

A villager from Punjab consulted the doctors

investigations, given Hepatitis B