Health ATMs a shot in the arm for rural diagnostics

Kalaburagi: Kalaburagi’s ‘health ATMs’, which were introduced to meet the heavy demand for affordable healthcare, are receiving a good response.

Thousands of people have undergone health tests with the help of 25 machines installed in the villages of Jewargi, Chittapur, Aland, Chincholi, Sedam, Afzalpur taluks and Kalaburagi city. Over 200 people used the facility in a month at one location alone. 

The machines were launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the Kalyana Karnataka Utsav last month in a first-of-its-kind effort in the state.

Like an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in banks, the health ATMs have touch-screen kiosk hardware designed for managing health-related information. The ATMs allow both invasive and non-invasive blood tests along with blood pressure, diabetes, body temperature, and haemoglobin tests. The machines have provisions for heart check-ups, blood and glucose levels, oxygen saturation level tests and even HIV tests. In total, the machines can conduct over 50 tests and a person can undergo all basic tests within 20-30 minutes. They also provide set medical prescriptions.

The machines are installed near select government hospitals or primary healthcare centres. All the tests conducted by these machines are not self-administered and require the assistance of a nurse and a lab technician attached to the government medical facility. Oxygen tests, blood pressure and obesity tests can be self-administered. People can access their health reports on WhatsApp, SMS or e-mail by registering their phone number before undergoing the tests.

Government hospitals in the region were witnessing a heavy rush of patients who couldn’t afford the hefty charges levied by private hospitals. Patients had to wait in long queues for free health check-ups at primary health centres, district and taluk hospitals.

“Health ATMs is a good concept as it helps the poor to undergo check-ups at regular intervals free of cost. The government should spread more awareness about it, especially in rural areas. More such machines should be installed in remote areas,” said Madevi Sasaragoan, a resident of Kalagi town.

Staff shortage

Hospitals in the district are facing a shortage of staff, including nurses and doctors. Therefore, the medical staff who are operating the health ATMs are taking extra workload in the absence of dedicated staff to operate the machines. At some places, health officials have deployed final-year MBBS students from Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) to operate the machines.

“More than 200 people underwent tests at the machine installed at the government hospital in Manikeshwari colony in Kalaburagi last month. We have to operate the machine besides catering to the healthcare needs of a 60,000-strong population in five municipal wards. The heavy rush of patients has increased the burden on us as we should also engage in national programmes like the eradication of malaria, dengue and chikungunya,” said Pavitra Patil, hospital lab technician.

District health officer Dr Rajashekhar Mali said the health ATMs have received an overwhelming response. “We will increase the number of these machines if the department gets more funds. The health department faces a perennial staff crunch and there is no plan to deploy dedicated staff to operate the machines,” he said.