In Mumbai, durability of the bulb emerged as the highest priority while making purchase decision for light bulbs, with almost 47% of adults choosing it over other factors like price and eye comfort. While 49% of adults in the city agree that light quality affects eyesight, only 21% will opt for lighting that is comfortable for their eyes. The study conducted amongst 9,000 adults across twelve countries including India, also revealed uncomfortably entrenched mindsets with about half of the Indian population compromising on their eyesight by prioritising price (50%) and durability (48%) of bulbs over eye comfort, while making purchase decisions for light bulbs.

The situation is quite alarming considering the invasion of digital technology in our lives translating into longer screen exposure times, with almost 70% of Indians surveyed spending more than 6 hours a day in front of a screen and a similar number complaining of eyestrain! This also comes at a time as myopia hits record levels globally, with the World Health Organization predicting that one in two people will be short sighted by 2050, a vision emergency of sorts, in the not too distant future!

Ophthalmologists understand the gravity of the situation and are pulling out all stops to sensitise the general population to step up on their eye care quotient. They highlight a continued need to educate the public about eye care. In response to this situation the All India Ophthalmological Society has developed a number of proactive community oriented programs, guidelines and resources to enhance ophthalmic education amongst the public. The study of over 9,000 adults across twelve countries – India, China, USA, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and Turkey – becomes even more relevant given the dire situation. It was commissioned to explore how quality LED lighting can help ameliorate the eye comfort problem amongst consumers. As per the findings of the study, 44% of Indians don’t visit an eye specialist on a regular basis while about three fourths on an average use weight (73%) and fitness (60%) as overall indicators of health. Clearly, eye care does not rank at par with other perceived health metrics. Quality lighting is not only related to longevity, but is also incredibly important when it comes to ensuring our eyes aren’t strained and feel comfortable. people should choose high quality lamps that are comfortable for their eyes.

PHILIPS LIGHTING RESEARCH

• While 49% adults in Mumbai agree that light quality affects their eye sight, only one in five (21%) will opt for lighting that is comfortable for their eyes

• Almost half of adults in Mumbai consider durability (47%) and price (45%) of bulbs over comfort for their eyes, while making purchase decisions

• More than half (53%) of adults in the city don’t regularly get their eyes checked; eye care does not rank at par with other perceived health metrics such as managing weight, fitness levels and skin care

Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at  magazine@innovatiocuris.com

Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2 
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz 
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw 
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 4 (October to December 2017) – http://amzn.to/2B2UMLw
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 1 (January to March 2018) – https://goo.gl/fksdQx

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Alisha Thapa is working as a community manager in MixORG, New Delhi. She generates content and strategy for brands. Also, she runs campaigns for brands’ engagement and presence on online media channels.

Shreya is an engineering graduate who is working with team InnovatioCuris connecting European Healthcare innovation leaders with the Indian healthcare system and pioneers. She looks forward to pursue her masters in the field of data science. Her interest areas are Indian education, healthcare and transportation.

One of the initiatives of Delhi’s government is about innovations in the healthcare delivery model Mohalla Clinics meaning Neighbourhood Clinics. This is a format of care delivery targeting to improve the access to primary care.
With the launch of the first Mohalla clinic on a trial basis at West Delhi’s Peera Garhi in July 2015, the Delhi government initiated to give an access of basic health facilities to the people of Delhi within walking distance. The first clinic head Dr. Alka Choudhary as the main doctor, an auxiliary nurse midwife, a sister and a technician. The clinic received a positive response from the common people with a recorded visit of 102 patients in just three and-a-half hours.
The government then proposed to maximise these clinics up to one thousand by 2016. However, there are less than 200 Mohalla Clinics operating at present. These clinics are set up with the aim to
1. Ease the burden on over-crowded hospitals.
2. Provide de-addiction counselling, family welfare counselling, lifestyle disease counselling and national programme counselling.
3. Zero cost on check-ups, medicines and tests.
4. Cut down the expenses on travelling and avoid long distance travelling to reach the hospitals by the poor and old-aged people respectively.
5. Immediate recovery from ailments.
At the beginning stage of this initiative, Delhi’s health minister Mr. Satyendra Jain had proposed that Mohalla Clinic could attend 80% of patients’ illnesses (20% with more serious illnesses to visit the hospitals). Mohalla Clinics have been more successful in attending patients than anticipated. the clinics were able to cater 95% of the patients’ illness. Mr. Jain also had spoken about more advancements and digitisation.
Dr Pal while attending a patient at Todapur’s Mohalla Clinic said:
The massive success of this project eventually gained the interests of other states in the country. A Mohalla clinic has been set up in the city of Mumbai in August 2016. Following the footsteps also includes the Karnataka government who announced on September 2016 to open two Mohalla clinics in Karnataka. The Gujarat Health Department decided to replicate the concept in four cities of Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat.
The foreign media has equally lauded the initiative. The highly honoured press journals “The Lancet” and “The Washington Post” have mentioned the initiative as a lesson for America.
Also Read: Micro Plastics – An Invisible Danger to Human Health

The second half of 2016 also marked another technological advancement in the Mohalla Clinics with an upgrade of a Mohalla Clinic in Todapur with a medicine vending machine, replacing the work of a pharmacist. According to the government reports, almost eight lakh patients were treated in five months in the Mohalla Clinics.

The world leaders like Kofi Annan and Gro Harlem Brundtland were highly impressed and congratulated Delhi CM Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. Both the leaders perceived the model of Mohalla Clinic not only as a country’s achievement but also a universal message to uplift the primary health care system.

During the recent visit to a Mohalla Clinic at Todapur, West Delhi by InnoHEALTH (IH) Team, met with Dr Pal, who answered some of the questions of interest.

Q.1. What is a Mohalla Clinic project?

Dr Pal: It is a pilot project with a target of 1000 Mohalla Clinics in the entire city.

Q.2. How do you operate as a doctor of Mohalla Clinic?

Dr Pal: Considering data entry, consultation, examination and prescribing medicines, on an average I spend up to four minutes on a single patient and 60-70 patients during the working period of four hours in a day.

Q.3. How easy it is to access the facilities? Can someone just walk in or they need to show some evidence?

Dr Pal: (While practically demonstrating his procedure with the help of a tab) As you can see, the patient has come for the first time, I register her details like first name, sex, age, marital status, address, mother’s name along with a picture of her clicked and then the consultation part I fill up like symptoms, examination, type of tests, prescription in the tab and finally issue a slip of the prescription.

Q.4. What makes it stand out from other healthcare projects?

Dr Pal: There are three major benefits of this project:
1. The hospitals can improve the quality of services as the load of the patients will be less because their load will be taken by Mohalla Clinics.
2. Only manifested and critical cases are going to the hospitals as patients at their early stages of illness are coming here (Mohalla Clinic) and we are giving all the possible treatments and advices within the clinic.
3. The quality of interaction between me as a doctor and the patient is more comprehensive and we are able to give a service with a personal touch to the community.

Q.5. Who is looking after the expenses of this project?

Dr Pal: It is a government project and the clinic has been set up as rented accommodation. The rent as well as medicines is provided at minimum costs. As a doctor I get INR 30 per patient, my assistant staff and multi-task worker get INR 8 per patient and INR 2 per patient respectively.

Q.6. From the time the project started till present, what is the level of success? And how do you measure the level of success?

Dr Pal: After the completion of one year, I can say the project has been successful. For instance, this area where I am operating consists of a population of approximately ten thousand comprising two thousand families. Surprisingly, almost each and every family has visited this clinic, be it for a minor or major purpose and that is exactly served our purpose. We want more and more people to visit Mohalla Clinics and get the required treatment. And not only the people of this local area but people from places like Noida, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh have visited us to learn about this project, which is a proof that other states are also aware, happy and replicating the model.

Q.7. What are the criteria for the selection of doctors for this project?

Dr Pal: Doctors’ selection is done by Directorate of Health Services in the office through walk in interview. One can find the advertisements on newspapers. Doctors can appear along with the required documents and especially the retired doctors are preferred for this project.

Q.8. How often do you refer patients to the hospital for further treatment?

Dr Pal: I hardly refer 1 or 2 patients in a day and rest we take care of ourselves. Patients who are mostly at early stages of the illness come here. For instance, children are prone to disease such as pneumonia and we have been able to detect this disease at the early stage at least in this area and nobody has suffered from this illness. This is how burden of the hospitals is reduced.

Q.9. What are the changes you see in yourself?

Dr Pal: As I’m already a retired person, I’m getting professional satisfaction while working here and I’m able to keep myself fit by continuing to work.

An interaction between IH Team and patient named Pinky at the Mohalla Clinic

IH: What health problems do you have?

Pinky: I’m having high blood pressure problem and Dr Pal has been taking care of me.

IH: How often do you visit this clinic? For how long have you been treated here?

Pinky: I visit this clinic on alternate days and my treatment is going on for last one and a half months here.

IH: How do you find the treatment?

Pinky: Sir is observing my problem really well. My blood pressure test is done very often and he advises me according to the blood pressure chart.

IH: How far do you stay and earlier where were you going for your high blood pressure treatment?

Pinky: My home is quite near. The hospital, where I was previously visiting for the treatment was one hour away from my home, due to which I used to leave from home early in the morning and at times it used to be difficult to manage with my small kid. But now everything has become convenient.

Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at  magazine@innovatiocuris.com

Zoctr Health Network is a first-of-its kind pan-India Home & Telehealth Company that provides a comprehensive portfolio of home based medical services including long term Intensive Care, Chronic Care & Wellness, Corporate Wellness and Health Check-up programs and other subscription based value added services such as Teleconsulting, Home Laboratory Pick-ups, Home/Online Pharmacy and Emergency Management Support to its customers leveraging a proprietary, fully integrated and technology led business model. It also integrates several health services like doctor appointments, home health services, remote monitoring services, laboratory, pharmacy, medical equipment, telehealth, and ambulatory support. Zoctr raised a funding of $1 million from certain angel investors to improve and expand its presence in Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Dr Srivats Bharadwaj is the founder, chairman & CEO at Vatsalya Dental, Bangalore, India. After completing his studies he has traveled far and wide across the world lecturing, teaching and for research activities. His innovative approach to dentistry applies two guiding principles derived from his international exposure and life experiences.

Statistics reveal that there is one dentist for every 10,000 people in urban areas in India. In rural areas, however, there is one dentist for 150,000 people. This is an indication of the challenge that exists in India when it comes to oral health. In an endeavour to contain this challenge “Vatsalya” was launched.

Vatsalya is a dental care firm for oral healthcare which provides end to end dental treatment at your doorstep. Recently the firm launched its 24/7 emergency home dental care services where it charges only the transportation cost as extra. The team had recently acquired a funding of Rs 11 crore from S-Squared Captial Investments, USA. The home healthcare company focuses on special needs dentistry and preventive dentistry. The team at Vatsalya also provides services like surgical removal of teeth, laser surgeries, complete or partial denture prosthesis, root canal therapy and fixed and bridge crown prosthesis.

A brainchild of IIT alumni Vipin, Abhishek and Garima, Care24 offers professional care from trained caregivers that help the patient recuperate at home. Care24 has been in operation since 2014 and has successfully helped 40000+ families heal at home in Mumbai and Delhi.

The Mumbai-based home healthcare platform offers verified caregiver services across Mumbai. The startup raised a series A funding of $4 million led by SAIF Partners and seed investor India Quotient. As of February this year, the startup had clocked 600 transactions in a day. They have a network 24×7 nurses, attendants, and certified physiotherapists, who help individuals through the rehabilitation process.

Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at  magazine@innovatiocuris.com

Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2 
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz 
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw 
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6

Connect with InnovatioCuris on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/innovatiocuris
Twitter: https://twitter.com/innovatiocuris
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7043791
Stay update about IC by visiting: www.innovatiocuris.com