Having succeeded in improving the lives of many in Urban India, we wish to expand our preventive health and wellness ecosystem to a wider audience with integration into public health care. We have the distinction of being one of the world’s leading health ecosystems and preventive health platforms and are now leveraging technology to take preventive healthcare to the masses in the hinterlands of India.
Today, April 7th, on World Health day, we have launched our pilot Preventive Public Health Care project called ‘Sanjeevani’ in the villages of Vaghadi and Charoti in Palghar district of Maharashtra. These districts have a combined population of over 2000.
The pilot project is in association with MP Poonam Mahajan who has adopted these villages under PM Modi’s-Adopt a Village Scheme- ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ to convert the villages into model villages. The move comes in the backdrop of the grim legacy of rural and public health care system in the country.
Healthcare is the right of every individual but, rural healthcare is one of biggest challenges faced by our country. With more than 70 percent of the population living in rural areas and access to low standard of health facilities, 31% of the population travels more than 30 km to seek healthcare in rural India. However, the current government’s initiative on preventive healthcare and immunisation come as a ray of hope and is likely to change the situation.
The Prime Minister has reiterated in several of his addresses to the nation that his government wants to effectively use ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ campaigns to ensure healthcare reaches the country’s poorest of the poor.
Penetration of mobile devices and data networks in rural markets have placed immense information power into the hands of everyone. Digital innovations have made it possible for consumers to access information and communicate freely. GOQii will leverage the new digital wave and provide its healthcare services to the population at the grassroots.
In addition to providing consultation on lifestyle related issues, GOQii also aims to address issues such as anemia, malnutrition, women’s health and diseases that are more typical of rural India.
In phase I of the pilot project, which could extend anywhere from 6-12 months, 500 people from Vaghadi, Charoti and nearby villages, with access to smartphones, have been shortlisted. We will provide these shortlisted villagers with a GOQii Fitness Tracker that will help them track their daily step count and have their first face to face consultation with the health coach. They will be taught to log their food data, check their sleep cycle, help understand their Health Risk via Assessment (HRA) and also learn about Karma points earned and how they could donate towards the good of the society.
In order to be able to do all of these functions with ease and break the language barrier, GOQii has made the app available in the vernacular language –Marathi. The chat feature has been designed to ease the communication between the users and their respective coaches. GOQii Doctors will be on board to provide timely healthcare consultation and, along with the coaches, will communicate in Marathi and Hindi.
As we move forward in the project, GOQii is looking to create an ecosystem with various partners in diagnostics and hospital care who will help in conducting critical tests like Blood Pressure (BP), ECG, Blood Sugar etc. at the villager’s doorstep and deliver the reports in a digital format directly to them and store in the Health Locker.
We have complete support from MP Poonam Mahajan. Commenting on the launch she said, “Technology can be a powerful platform to deliver low-cost healthcare in rural India. We are excited to partner with GOQii to enable prevention of diseases, enhance the quality of life and promote fitness.”
The project will be carried out in phases across several villages and as part of this project, at a later stage, GOQii will work towards training frontline health workers to be health coaches. Through this pilot project, GOQii aims to start a new health revolution across the country which focuses on preventive health care for people at the grass root level who have limited access to health care facilities.
We will begin a health revolution by leveraging technology to the fullest and bring preventive healthcare to the masses at their doorstep. We are hopeful that through this pilot project, we will be able to improve the quality of life of rural India.
GOQii has recently been featured as a management case study in the Harvard Business Publishing Platform for educators. It is indeed a proud moment for us that GOQii has received such recognition in a short span of time and that the student community is looking at the success of GOQii as a benchmark for their management program. This further reinstates the company’s vision of healthy living and preventive healthcare.
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Sharma is a strong proponent of an egalitarian society, a philanthropist and a social activist at heart. He also mentors startups and advises various incubation centres. His idea with SFF is to showcase and effectively address the most burning and plaguing issues of our society at a large scale, on a single platform.
