[India] Jiva's Handy Vaid

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

Over the years, people living in rural areas worldwide have typically 
survived without proper health services. This is mostly because 
doctors are not willing to set up clinics and serve in the tough 
conditions of the villages.

Handy Vaid is a Jiva initiative that seeks to get timely health 
advice and medication to the patient’s doorstep by making innovative 
use of PDAs.

A representative carrying a PDA through the village collects 
information and queries from the villagers using a pre-designed 
consultation form. This information is then transferred to a doctor 
in the city, who diagnoses the problem and suggests appropriate 
treatment, precautions and medication. The doctor’s diagnosis and 
suggested treatment is then once again transferred to the PDA and 
carried back to the villager.

Handy Vaid is seen as the solution to improving health services and 
the overall living conditions in some of the most underserved areas 
around the world. Moreover, since this program does not require 
doctors to travel to or live in remote locations, it will be possible 
to get the benefits of this program even to the most remote and 
inaccessible populations. It also provides an opportunity for 
international travelers to volunteer as field consultants to the 
program.


Project Birth
June 15, 2002

Duration
Three Years and Six Months
(June 15, 2002 - Dec. 2005)

Total Budget
Rs.  15, 917,282
US $ 327,180

Cost per Patient
Rs. 707 (INR)
$ 15 (US)


Project Aims

To develop the Handy-Vaid software system in order to establish a 
sustainable system of providing regular treatment to people in rural 
areas using hand-held computers.


Project Objectives

By December 2005, Jiva Ayurveda will provide treatment to a total of 
22,500 patients in 15 villages.

* By December 2002, Jiva will provide treatment to 7,500 people in 5 
villages.

* By December 2003, the program will reach 12,000 people in 8 
villages

* By December 2004, 18,000 people in 12 villages will benefit from 
the program.


for further details see
http://www.jiva.org/programs/description.asp?program_id=2