The Centre For Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) had already developed a mobile-based application ‘mCARE’ that enables health workers to use handheld devices such as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for capturing data from field and thus making it easy to analyse public health data from grassroot level.
Elizabeth Thomas, joint director of Medical Informatics at C-DAC, said the mobile-based health care application would minimise or eliminate redundant data entry and provides a permanent storage system for archiving the needed data.
“This will increase the accuracy of data flowing up from the health worker through the health care reporting structure. It improves their health care delivery activities.
“A centralised server is used for storing the collected data in a central database and its analysis using statistical methods. This will serve as input to health planning and decision-making at higher levels of the Directorate of Heath Service,” she said.
She said the pilot implementation of the system is undertaken in Tirur Taluk, Malappuram district.
“The project is undertaken by Media Lab Asia, Department of Information Technology under Union Ministry of Communication and IT, developed by C-DAC and implemented at 20 locations at Tirur Taluk of Malappuram district,” Elizabeth Thomas said.