State, Biocon to setup 15 Primary Health Centres in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Biocon Foundation signed an MoU with the Health Department to establish eLAJ smart clinics in 15 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across six districts in Karnataka. On Thursday, health minister K R Ramesh Kumar inaugurated the first smart clinic in Mallathahalli PHC at Nagarbhavi. 

Speaking at the inaugural, Kumar said technology will help transform the public healthcare scenario in India, particularly in rural and remote areas of the state.

“We aim to strengthen the present public healthcare system in Karnataka by providing solutions around primary & secondary healthcare with effective use of technology,” Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.

In addition, the company will employ more than 30 technicians to support data entry and laboratory services.

B Manjunath, joint director, Health Department, said that 15 such centres will come up in places like Badami, Mysuru, Bijapur, Raichur and others. "Chemicals for lab tests, one data entry operator and three laptops will be provided to each clinic.” he said.

Prabhjot Singh from PacketBio that provided technical support to the smart clinic said, “All collected data goes to the server. If there is no electricity, there will be UPS back up for two days. Besides internet routers are low power devices.”  

eLAJ clinics are technology-enabled, smart clinics equipped with multi-parameter monitoring device, which facilitates 33 diagnostic tests while also generating electronic medical records (EMRs) of patients. The eLAJ model has been designed to deliver data-based healthcare on the basis of socio-demographic and health indicators obtained from community-based screenings. This will facilitate effective preventive and primary healthcare intervention in rural areas of Karnataka for the benefit of communities with poor access to quality healthcare, officials said.