NEW DELHI: There is good news for people wanting to quit tobacco. The Centre will soon offer a mobile phone-based IT-enabled intervention to tobacco users where they will be counselled to kick the habit.
‘M-Cessation’, which is built on a helpline concept, will register beneficiaries on the basis of a missed call, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said.
The Health Minister also announced other IT-enabled health services. The projects include Kilkari, an audio-based mobile phone service that delivers weekly audio messages to families about pregnancy, child birth and child care.
Each pregnant woman and infant’s mother, registered in Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS), a web-enabled name-based system to monitor and ensure delivery of full spectrum of services to all pregnant women and children, would receive weekly voice messages relevant to the stage of pregnancy or age of the infant. The 72 messages would reach the targeted beneficiaries from the 4th month of pregnancy until the child is one year old. On an average, the duration of each message is two minutes. He also announced a new mobile-based application, Mobile Academy, through which about 9000,000 ASHA health workers will be trained using mobile services.
Once registered, ASHA workers can access the 240-minute course via their mobile phones.They can then complete the standardised course at their convenience. Apart from this, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) will also be made more patient-centric. A dedicated toll free number, 1 8 0 0 - 1 1 - 6 6 6 6, with a call centre is being started to provide round-the- clock support for patient counselling and treatment support services. This call centre will have trained personnel to provide feedback to patients. Nadda made these announcements at the launch of the IIMS OPD Transformation Project, which envisages the use of IT to access services at AIIMS, New Delhi. The project is being supported by Tata Consultancy Services.