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Evaluation of HelloDoctor 24x7 Healthcare Services in Rural India: A Case Study

Authors:
Ashish Joshi
Navya Ramesh
Pinaki Panigrahi

Keywords: health hotlines; evaluation; rural; triage; information.

Abstract:
The poor state of healthcare systems and outcomes in developing countries is widely known. There has been a growth in telephone consultation to assess patients' symptoms, providing health information and referring patients to appropriate levels of care. In this case study, we evaluate the utilization of HelloDoctor 24X7 health hotline services aimed to facilitate health information, consultation and referral services over a three month period (June-Sep 2011) in the State of Orissa, India. A total of 1900 calls were received during this three month period. Gender data was available on 1377 callers of which 74% calls (n=1023) were made by males. 68% of the calls were made in the evening. Health information was delivered in 11% of the cases, doctor information was provided in 6%, and hospital information and medicine related general information was delivered in 6% of the cases. Of the total 1900 calls made, only 94 were referred during this time period that included 17% of the calls being actually referred to the specialists. 48% of the calls were made to gather information about treatment and 8% gathered information about medicines. Common ailments for which the calls were made included fever, diarrhea and vomiting, diet and weight management, allergies and women health related issues.

Pages: 61 to 65

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: January 30, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4359

ISBN: 978-1-61208-179-3

Location: Valencia, Spain

Dates: from January 30, 2012 to February 4, 2012