Recognised by the UN as the world’s 50th Digital Public Good, CARE is an open-source digital platform developed by the Open Health Care Network and backed by ACT For Health since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Designed to help India manage the unprecedented strain on its public health infrastructure, CARE enabled the National Health Mission to coordinate care for over 355,000 patients, including 130,000 ambulance shifts and 200,000 telemedicine calls between March 2020 and May 2022. During the Delta wave, CARE powered the launch of 10BedICU, a smart ICU solution that made it possible to remotely leverage the expertise of critical care specialists nationwide and optimize ICU operations especially in remote geographies. Since then, 10BedICU has served over 100,000 patients across 10+ states.

CARE’s impact has reinforced our belief that open-source digital infrastructure can serve as a powerful foundation for India’s public health systems, but building the technology is only part of the equation. Achieving meaningful, sustainable impact in public health requires an equal focus on implementing such technologies, building the capacity to use them, and integrating them into existing systems to unlock scale. 

To scale across states and benefit more patients, we’re supporting eGov Foundation in scaling CARE’S Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) across 4 states – Karnataka, Assam, Manipur, and Jharkhand – as part of a five-year initiative to drive national adoption. 

Since its inception in 2003, eGov has proven its ability to scale digital infrastructure in close partnership with governments. Its successful implementation of the 10BedICU program has highlighted the effectiveness of CARE’s open-source architecture and  catalyzed interest in extending CARE beyond critical care in public healthcare, towards a comprehensive Health Management Information System (HMIS). Accelerated through a pilot supported by ACT, implemented by eGov and backed by participating state governments, the goal is to build a replicable, scalable model for HMIS deployment and lay the foundation for a responsive, data-driven and inclusive public healthcare system. 

Five years after COVID-19 first tested our public health infrastructure, this grant reflects both how far we have come and our renewed commitment to catalyzing the adoption of digital public goods that can act as the building blocks of India’s digital health stack!