Swasth, a Tele-health Network, launched to
provide free Corona care
provide free Corona care
Digital
Healthcare Push to Empower 1.3 Billion People with Equal Access
● 100+ private and
not-for-profit entities join hand to frame tech response to national crisis
● India’s first big
push towards mass adoption of digital healthcare as a citizen empowering
platform
● Swath platform
facilitates seamless and remote interaction between registered medical
practitioners and patients
● App-based
consultation service in Hindi, English and Gujarati to begin with, and will be
expanded to 25 Indian languages
A coalition of
over 100 healthcare specialists have come together to launch Swasth, a
nationwide telemedicine platform for Corona care, which digitally connects
Indians to the best doctors and wellness providers. Swasth is a swift response
promoted by the country’s health and technology leaders to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s call to leverage telemedicine as a national priority in the
current stressed times. The mobile app-based service leverages India’s
technology prowess to deliver equal and affordable healthcare to 1.3 billion
people, cutting across geographical and income divides.
This indigenous
digital healthcare system is being launched at a time when the COVID-19
pandemic has challenged traditional service providers.
Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, a part of the Swasth Governing Council,
said, “Swasth has brought together
the best of resources in the country to provide free healthcare to bring quick
relief during the crisis. Swasth will work to further public health goals and
work in coordination with the Medical Council, public health organizations, and
the private sector to expand quality healthcare access to the masses. I firmly
believe that this crisis is a great opportunity to re-invent healthcare
delivery in India.”
Swasth
facilitates seamless, remote interaction between registered medical
practitioners and patients through multiple modes of video and telephony.
Swasth deploys AI based triaging to determine the care required, culminating in
a digitally signed prescription and treatment advice.
Along with the free consultations, Swasth will also
provide services like home quarantine assistance, diagnostics, pharmacies,
hospital bed discovery and booking assistance at a subsidized cost.
All doctors on
the Swasth platform are duly verified and undergo specially designed training
programs on tele-consultation and COVID-19 clinical protocols. Swasth is in full compliance with the
industry-accepted cybersecurity norms for healthcare platforms. It uses a
defense-in-depth approach to ensure that data is securely transmitted, stored,
managed and accessed. Currently, the app supports consultation in Hindi,
English and Gujarati and will be expanded to 25 Indian languages.
Swasth is the
country’s first big push towards mass adoption of digital healthcare as a
citizen empowering platform.
Dr Nachiket
Mor, a member of the Governing Council, added, “Swasth is a unique non-profit coalition of members from multiple
sections of the Indian healthcare ecosystem, including individual doctors,
small and large hospitals, diagnostic labs, pharmacies, telemedicine platforms,
insurance companies, and healthcare-technology companies, who have joined hands
with the goal of creating affordable healthcare for all Indians in every nook
and corner of the country, so that they can immediately get the care that they
need for this crisis, as well as for all their other healthcare needs. Swasth
will do this by making it easy for patients to smoothly access the services
they need from its members, and will also enable each of its members to provide
a wide range of high quality services to their patients, by giving them access
to protocols, technologies, and platforms that are best in class, completely
interoperable, and fully compliant with the latest guidelines.”
Dr NK Jairam, a key member of the project team,
said, “As we move on with the current
Corona pandemic and with social distancing being one of the key remedies to
eradicate it, telemedicine is going to be an integral part of the healthcare
system. Tele- consultation has been offered by doctors since the early 2000s, however,
it has gained rapid momentum because of the current situation. With Swasth,
telemedicine will gain a boost which will empower patients to make quick
decisions and also teach them self-care.”
Abheek Singhi,
Senior Partner at BCG, and member of the project team for this initiative, said,
"Swasth is a consortium of 70+
organizations and 200+ volunteers with a common goal of building a
comprehensive COVID care platform in the short term and of leveraging
technology to transform primary healthcare delivery in the medium term. This is
the first time such a coalition like this has come together. BCG is privileged
to be partnering with this alliance"
Swasth is created
by a not-for-profit consortium of different players across healthcare
providers, telehealth platforms, entrepreneurs, technology experts and doctors.
Swasth received a grant of INR 10 crore ($1.3 million) from the ACT Grants, an
umbrella platform of entrepreneurs and investors backing start-ups fighting the
pandemic.
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