Backrogund:
The Govt. of Assam under the National Rural Health Mission has been laying increasing focus on the preventive aspect of diseases. However, for prevention, it is important that information pertaining to diseases is readily accessible. What is important in a State like Assam is a hassle-free and single-window medical advice solution with round the clock availability.
With this objective the Govt. of Assam decided to put in place a helpline service for the people of the State that will enable free health counselling and medical advice from any mobile or landline phone.
The SARATHI '104'- Health Information Helpline Service is a 24x7 source for answering all health queries that can be availed just by dialing the number '104'. The service seeks to reach out to three crores population of Assam through an integrated state-of-art Health Helpline. The initiative aims to provide health information in four different languages – Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and English.
The Sarathi '104'- Health Information Helpline Service is a 24x7 source for answering all health queries that can be availed just by dialing the number '104'. The service seeks to reach out to three crores population of Assam through an integrated state-of-art Health Helpline.
Sarathi '104' Services:
With cutting edge technology and the able support of committed domain and management experts, Sarathi '104' is able to reach anyone in Assam who has access to a telephone. The services offered by the Initiative are:
- Medical Advice - is the primary service aimed at providing preliminary diagnosis of symptoms, and subsequent measures to be taken. A competent group of trained medical and para-medical personnel use specially designed decision support tools to assess a patient's condition and provide advice.
- Counseling Services - Trained Counselors provide counseling to callers in matters of HIV / AIDS condition, matrimonial discord, depression, chronic diseases, psychological distress and suicidal tendencies. Medical officers determine the need for counseling and such cases are referred to qualified counselors who render online services round the clock.
- Directory Information - This service provides information about health service providers, hospitals, diagnostic centres, pharmacists, etc.
- Service Improvement - This service is aimed at improving the delivery of existing public health services in the state of Assam. A caller can register a discrepancy in the existing system or alert regarding the requirement of medical action, which is notified to the government authorities.
Sarathi 104 (HIHL) has qualified doctors and paramedics on board, with present seating capacity of 50 per shift and total employee strength of over 180. This service is based on 150 directories, 84 algorithms and 608 disease summaries. The service is also well equipped to identify epidemics and escalate the problem to the concerned authorities.
Salient features of the Sarathi"104" - Health Information Helpline
- Authentic and standardized medical advice from skilled medical professionals
- SMS prescription of Over-the-Counter medicines
- Medical Advice using triage (classifying the caller's condition into 'critical', 'serious' or 'stable' states) and providing appropriate advice
- Information on all health aspects with priority to National Health programmes
- Counseling to callers for any health-related problems
- Information on healthcare facilities, providers and Health schemes
- Service improvement to capture concerns of citizens on healthcare delivery at public health facilities
- Registration of outbreak of diseases
- Registration of complaints and suggestion for improvement of public health system.
