In the ever evolving quest to provide quality healthcare services to rural populations, the emergence of tele-medicine has ushered in a new era of healthcare delivery. With just an internet connection, individuals can now access doctors and receive consultations from the comfort of their homes. This technological leap has been a game-changer for remote and rural communities that have historically struggled to access medical professionals. eSanjeevani, a government-supported tele-medicine platform has become a household name post the pandemic, facilitating millions of consultations to date.

However, in its current form, tele-medicine comes with its own set of limitations. Often, it falls short as remote doctors lack real-time patient information such as vitals and test results. This information gap can result in significant challenges in follow-up care. Doctors often rely on auxiliary healthcare workers like ANMs/GNMs to gather basic diagnostic data. Even when these data are available, issues like manual errors and data sharing with remote doctors burden frontline health workers, thus limiting the current utility of such platforms. Furthermore, a staggering 70% of patients seeking care at primary health clinics require diagnostic tests for the doctors to make informed treatment decisions. However, even the most basic, high-quality diagnostic tests are not often readily available at many PHCs. Nearly one-third of these centres lack the diagnostic facilities altogether and among those who do, the availability of tests is often limited, and supply chain issues lead to frequent downtimes. As a result, patients are forced to turn to private labs, causing delays and higher out-of-pocket expenses.

To address these challenges and ensure access to quality healthcare services for rural populations while reducing manual errors and ensuring continuity of care, there is a pressing need to strengthen tele-medicine offerings at PHCs. This requires a system where digitization and data logging happen seamlessly, facilitating the flow of data between healthcare providers and users.

Neurosynaptic is a digital health technology company focused on improving primary care at the last mile through integrated primary care models. Founded by an alumnus of IISc and incubated at IIT Madras, their ReMeDi® kit offers comprehensive coverage of the diagnostic tests required at the primary care level, including Maternal & Child Health (MCH), Communicable Diseases (CDs), and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Additionally, their team brings decades of experience in tele-medicine and integrated diagnostics solutions.

Our grant aims to pilot the integration of the ReMeDi® diagnostics kit with the eSanjeevani platform across PHCs in 2 districts. Our hypothesis is that it will increase the utilisation of the eSanjeevani platform and enhance access to essential tests at the last mile care, thereby improving overall health outcomes. This collaboration will also enable them to understand the key strengths and pain points of the eSanjeevani workflow and get strong data evidence to enable their adoption at scale in HWCs across multiple states.