The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi visited his home town, Vadnagar, for the first time since assuming office of Prime Minister. Residents of the town thronged the streets to welcome the Prime Minister. He offered prayers at the Hatkeshwar Temple. He also stopped briefly at the school in which he had studied as a child. The Prime Minister visited GMERS Medical College, Vadnagar, and unveiled a plaque to mark its dedication. He also interacted briefly with students. At a public meeting, the Prime Minister launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush, to accelerate progress towards the goal of full immunization coverage. It will provide greater focus on urban areas and other pockets of low immunization coverage. The Prime Minister distributed e-tablets to health workers to mark the launch of ImTeCHO - an innovative mobile phone application to improve performance of ASHAs. He also launched some development works.
Addressing an enthusiastic gathering, the Prime Minister said that coming back to one's home town and receiving such a warm welcome is special. Whatever I am today is due to the values I have learnt on this soil, among you all in Vadnagar, the Prime Minister said. I go back with your blessings and assure you that I will work even harder for the nation, the Prime Minister said to the people of Vadnagar. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that he had got to inaugurate projects related to the health sector, particularly Intensified Mission Indradhanush. He mentioned how the Government had brought down the prices of stents, and said that the Government is working constantly to make healthcare affordable for the poor. Mentioning his interaction with students from the medical college, the Prime Minister said that as a society, we require more doctors who can serve the people.
ImTeCHO is an innovative mobile phone application to improve performance of ASHAs through better supervision, support and motivation for increasing coverage of proven maternal, newborn and child health interventions among resource-poor settings in India.
ImTeCHO stands for “Innovative mobile-phone Technology for Community Health Operations”. “TeCHO” in Gujarati means “support”; therefore, “ImTeCHO” means “I am support.” The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J.P. Nadda, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vijay Rupani, the Minister of State for Mines and Coal, Shri Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Nitinbhai Patel and other dignitaries were also present in the event.
ImTeCHO project leverages upon 30 years of grass-root experience and community-based safe motherhood and child survival platform created by voluntary organization SEWA Rural. ImTeCHO is rooted in SEWA Rural’s experience and conviction that frontline workers perform better if they are adequately supported and supervised. The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Gujarat is actively partnering in this project. This joint project is being implemented by the health department in Gujarat within existing primary health care system with active facilitation from SEWA Rural.
ImTeCHO is an innovative mobile phone application to improve performance of ASHAs through better supervision, support and motivation for increasing coverage of proven maternal, newborn and child health interventions among resource-poor settings in India. ImTeCHO stands for “Innovative mobile-phone Technology for Community Health Operations”.
“TeCHO” in Gujarati language means “support”; therefore, “ImTeCHO” means “I am support”. As its name indicate, ImTeCHO is aimed to provide support to all involved in ASHA programme starting from ASHAs to PHC staff to higher level officials so that their job is easier, and more effective.
HOW ImTeCHO WORKS
ImTeCHO has two components: Mobile phone application which is used by ASHAs and Web interface (computer) which is used by PHC staff including medical officers.
When is ImTeCHO being used?
ImTeCHO provides support to ASHAs throughout continuum of care starting from beginning of pregnancy up to child completes critical first two years of age. ImTeCHO is used every day by ASHAs for checking their daily schedule, guide home visitations, record services provided on monthly health and nutrition day, track high risk cases, and record births and deaths. Web interface can be used every day for tracking high risk cases, obtain information about critical indicators, and manage incentives and supplies.
What is unique about ImTeCHO?
ImTeCHO is unique in following ways:
Leverages upon SEWA Rural’s three decades of grass roots experience and insight generated from implementing various community health programmes
Active involvement of the government’s health department in all areas including planning, developing, implementing and evaluating ImTeCHO
Led and supported by in-country team in India regarding all aspects of ImTeCHO including its development, implementation and evaluation
A comprehensive mHealth solution to support all aspects of ASHA programme management and addresses critical implementation challenges such as regular payment of incentives, replenishment of supplies, and performance management
Use of state of art mobile phone technology encompassing multimedia, decision tree, patient support, emergency management and more
Potentially interoperable with online mother and child tracking system (MCTS) and can compliment MCTS in future
Strong focus on robust and high-quality research and evaluation
Complete package of implementation plan/roll out plan is field tested and ready for systematic and effective scale up
BENEFITS
Support to ASHA's Provision of daily schedule makes planning of home visits easy
No need to remember every small details from ASHA module 6 and 7 as mobile reminds what tasks to be completed during home visits
In-built videos makes counselling easy and effective
Relieves ASHAs from remembering complex algorithms as customised diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment plan, including doses of drugs are available in mobile
Easy calculation of incentives and regular replenishment of supply
E-ASHA diary in mobile stores record of task completed which can be used in place of current ASHA diary
Support to Female Health workers/Auxiliary Nurse Midwives?
Reporting and recording is now easy
Planning of monthly village health and nutrition day is easy and effective
e-mamata card will be prepared automatically for every beneficiary on web interface
Instant notification of at risk mothers and children so that FHWs can plan their field visit accordingly
Support to PHC staff including medical officers
Timely and accurate entry in e-mamata (online mother and child tracking system) is possible
Up-to-date information about births and deaths
Draft copy of monthly PHC level report no.7 and 7a is available based on entries made in field
Calculation of ASHA’s incentives is now very easy
Easy tracking of high risk mothers and children from web interface
Performance monitoring will be easiery
Support to higher level health officers at block, district, and state level
Up-to-date performance monitoring system using balance score card gives detailed and critical information about ASHA programme within few seconds
Up-to-date information about ASHA programme management including supplies, incentives, high-risk tracking and more
Certification of ASHAs for using ImTeCHO is being done