Team Invest India partnered with the Deputy Commissioner of South Delhi to facilitate automated real-time data collection of food and telemedicine requirements of patients in South Delhi. The team is in talks to roll out the scheme in other districts of Delhi- NCR as well.

Across the country, patients are in urgent need of help in the form of medical consultation and food and basic supplies. Taking cognisance of the matter, the Delhi government had started with a scheme to provide patients with the same. Initially, a group of 4-5 people would be engaged to collect data and check its authenticity. This prevented real-time data collection as well as resulted in wastage of manpower. 

Team Invest India proposed a simple Google Form that could be attached with an SMS. The SMS would be sent to all patients in the district by cross-referencing their ICMR number (as available on the COVID 19 report as well). A patient would get an SMS from the Delhi government asking if they require any sort of help, and if they do, to fill the Google Form. The Google Form is available in both Hindi as well as English and has been designed to be user friendly. The form requires various details such as the Aadhaar card number, the ICMR number and phone number among other details. This ensures almost complete elimination of illegitimate entries.

As a result, the significant time and manpower invested into data collection is now better utilised in other areas. Patients can register their requirements and get help on an urgent basis. Moreover, the government now has an exhaustive real-time dashboard that can be used to better monitor the situation. The dashboard also presents data at a micro-level by using pin codes as a filter point. 

Team Invest India hopes for more collaborations in the future to jointly combat the nationwide pandemic.

This blog has been authored by Dr. Preet Deep Singh, Anwesha Pathi, Geethu Nithyanandan and Divyam Gupta.