Jarosławski and Saberwal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2014, 14:1http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/14/1

RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access

In eHealth in India today, the nature of work, thechallenges and the finances: an interview-basedstudySzymon Jarosławski and Gayatri Saberwal*

Abstract

Background: India is a country with vast unmet medical needs. eHealth has the potential to improve the quality ofhealth care and reach the unreached. We have sought to understand the kinds of eHealth programmes beingoffered in India today, the challenges they face and the nature of their financing.

Methods: We have adopted an interview-based methodology. The 30 interviews represent 28 organizations, andinclude designers, implementers, evaluators and technology providers for eHealth programmes.

Results: A range of programmes is being run, including point-of-care in rural and urban areas, treatment compli-ance, data collection and disease surveillance, and distant medical education. Most programmes provide point-of-care to patients or other beneficiaries in rural areas. Technology is not a limiting factor but the unavailability ofsuitable health personnel is a major challenge, especially in rural areas. We have identified a few factors that helpthis situation. Financial sustainability is also a concern for most programmes, which have rarely been scaled up.There are recent for-profit efforts in urban areas, but no reliable business model has been identified yet.Government facilities have not been very effective in eHealth on their own, but collaborations between thegovernment and non-profit (in particular) and for-profit organisations have led to impactful programmes.

Conclusions: It is unlikely that eHealth will have widespread and sustainable impact without governmentinvolvement, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, programmes run solely by the government are unlikely to bethe most effective.

Keywords: eHealth, Telemedicine, mHealth, Rural healthcare, Diagnostics, Distant medical education

BackgroundIndia is a vast country with complex socio-economiccharacteristics that are reflected in its medical systems.These include an insufficient number of primary caredoctors practising in rural and semi-urban areas [1] andan ongoing need to update the knowledge of those whodo work in rural areas [2]. Qualified doctors’ practicecan diverge widely from standards of care, with manymedical practitioners lacking formal qualificationsaltogether [3]. About 80% of the population depends onnon-allopathic medicine [4] and a study of the Indianpharma industry has estimated that the penetration ofmodern medicine in the country is only 30% [5]. Also,

* Correspondence: gayatri@ibab.ac.inInstitute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Biotech Park,Electronics City Phase I, Bangalore 560 100, India

© 2014 Jarosławski and Saberwal; licensee Biothe Creative Commons Attribution License (htdistribution, and reproduction in any medium

out-of-pocket expenditure, which constitutes around80% of the total healthcare spending in India [6,7] maybe further inflated by travel costs in both urban andrural areas [8]. Thus, many conditions remain untreatedor are managed with prescription medicines purchasedover-the-counter [8] or by faith healers [9]. Consequently,the 70% of the population that lives in rural areas, in par-ticular, has limited access to adequate health care. Finally,epidemiological data is often unavailable or non-reliable[10], hampering the informed design of preventive healthprogrammes.The use of Information and Communication Technolo-

gies (ICT) for health (eHealth) has the potential to improveall these areas, that is facilitate access to quality health careand to health information as well as improve the quality ofhealth-related data, as has been demonstrated in other

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developing countries [11] and references therein, [12]. TheeHealth based delivery of health-related services caninvolve remote clinical participation, that may involve mo-bile communications technology, a sub-category known asmHealth [13].We have identified numerous reports on eHealth in

India. However most of the papers (i) were written bypersons involved in running such programmes [14-18];(ii) reported studies on user attitudes towards eHealth[19-21] or (iii) were literature reviews [16,22,23]. We be-lieved that unlike other methodologies such as casestudies of a few programmes, for instance, an interview-based study would give us insights into the experiencesand opinions of a range of designers, implementers,evaluators and technology providers, to understand thetypes of programmes being run, the challenges in run-ning them and the patterns of funding, with implicationsfor sustainability and scale up. Therefore we undertookan interview-based study to understand the kinds ofeHealth programmes being offered in India today – thenature of the work, its financing, and the challenges inrunning the programmes.The authors have no prior or current links with

eHealth programmes, in India or abroad, and thereforehave no conflict of interest. They had no preconceivednotions about the expected or preferred outcomes of thestudy and therefore believe that they have had no bias inthe formulation of the research question, in data collec-tion or in its interpretation.

MethodsDesignWe adopted an exploratory, interview-based methodology.Approval for this research was obtained from the EthicsCommittee of IBAB and the research was carried out incompliance with the Helsinki Declaration. Prior to conduct-ing the interviews, a detailed questionnaire was constructedbased on a review of the peer-reviewed and grey literatureabout telemedicine in India including publications of theWorld Health Organization, the mHealth Alliance (http://www.mhealthalliance.org/) and The Center for Health Mar-ket Innovations (http://healthmarketinnovations.org/). Thequestionnaire was validated during a few initial inter-views and the final version considered details of (i) theonset of a programme, (ii) its implementation and scale-up, including issues related to cost, financing, businessmodel, human resources, infrastructure, technology andevaluation and (iii) the enablers and challenges in run-ning it.

SamplingSJ sent email invitations to all 48 programmes in Indialisted at http://www.mhealthalliance.org/ at the time.Early interviews with those who responded led to other

contacts. Only persons who had worked in organizationsdirectly employing eHealth technologies were selected.Potential interviewees were invited to be part of thestudy that was outlined to them, and a positive responseto the email invitation was taken as informed consent toparticipate. In all, we conducted 30 interviews, repre-senting 28 organizations, with a few follow up clarifica-tory emails. Further attempts, over several weeks, torecruit interviewees did not succeed.

Data collectionThe interviews were conducted by SJ between March andSeptember 2012, inclusive. Interviews were semi-structuredaround the validated questionnaire (Additional file 1).Notes were taken during each interview or immediatelythereafter. In order to address the confidentiality concernsof the interviewees, the interviews were not recorded. Theinterviews were 25 to 90 minutes long, with an average of55 minutes. Eight interviews were carried out face-to-face,21 by phone and one by e-mail. In each case, completeannonymity and confidentiality were assured. Data collec-tion was stopped when all those who had agreed had beeninterviewed.

Data analysisDescriptive analysis of the interview notes was done asfollows: the replies of each interviewee were collatedunder the corresponding questions of the questionnaireand analyzed together in thematic clusters as in thequestionnaire. Categorization of mHealth programs inIndia by the respondents turned out to be largely in ac-cordance with that proposed by the mHealth Alliance[24] and this framework was adopted in this study.Other themes are presented as a direct compilation ofthe replies without an attempt to create a framework.Overall, an inductive analytical approach was adopted.This approach allowed us to reflect the rich diversity ofexperiences of the various mHealth stakeholders.

ResultsLargely in accordance with the framework used by themHealth Alliance [24], the organizations interviewedwere categorized as follows (Figure 1): (i) point-of-caresupport (24 cases), (ii) data collection and disease sur-veillance (three cases), (iii) treatment compliance (twocases) and (iv) distant medical education (three cases).These include five cases of (exclusive) developers of soft-ware or hardware that have been classified based on cat-egory of use. Some organizations’ activities fall into twocategories and hence the number of cases exceeds 28.Point-of-care can be in rural (21 cases) or urban areas(five cases), with two technology providers figuring inboth. We first consider the nature of work in each cat-egory before discussing their enablement by technology,

Figure 1 Categories of eHealth in India.

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the various challenges in running such programmes, andtheir finances. As mentioned above, the interviews werenot recorded. Therefore, we do not include quotationsin the Results. Although triangulation or other techniquesof verifying responses were not used, interviewees fromsimilar situations had broadly similar responses to a givenquestion, confirming the reliability of the responses.

Nature of workPoint-of-careTelemedicine starts when doctors share their phonenumbers with patients, in an informal way. This hasbeen happening for decades in India. A subsequent ef-fort involved medical equipment being installed in a car,and a specialist being consulted using the nearest land-line. Current efforts are outlined below.

Rural and semi-urban programmes The four mainstreams today are (a) stationary clinics, (b) van-basedcamps, (c) a technician working with a mobile phoneand (d) mobile phone applications. Some organizationsfocus on one or two medical issues, such as diabetes andhypertension whereas others work across issues, and canspan pre-natal care, malnutrition, dengue and HIV/AIDS,for instance.

(a) A stationary clinic (whether private or publicsector) may already exist, which a non-governmental organization (NGO) or a city-basedhospital equips with diagnostic hardware, acomputer and an internet connection to enabletele-consultations with a specialist in the city. Illus-tratively, a general physician may not have thefacility to record electrocardiograms (ECG), butwill install the requisite machine and then make

use of such tele-consultations. This care may ormay not require video conferencing and the tele-medicine aspect is sometimes hidden from pa-tients. The primary care doctors are happy to beable to provide an additional category of care andpopular areas for this modality include cardiology,neurology, nephrology and paediatrics. This con-nection of specialists to distant doctors may also bedone internationally, and one Indian hospital hasconnections to 150 centres globally. The targetedbeneficiary here is the primary care doctor whonow has better facilities and access to the specialist,which in turn benefits the patient.Another approach is to set up a new clinic. AnNGO refurbishing an existing centre or setting upits own facilities may have specific communicationstrategies, including branding, to attract patients.The centre may be manned just by technicians, orby fresh medical graduates who will be connectedto a specialist in the metro. There might also be atechnician to help with the computer. Theconsultation may involve a simple telephone call tothe doctor, or it may use the satellite connectionprovided for free by the public sector Indian SpaceResearch Organization (ISRO). In addition to theconsultation, patients may be provided freemedicines and transport to and fro the consultation.Training the manpower that will work in non-urban centres is important to the success of such aprogramme. In some cases, local people, includinghigh school students, are recruited and trained atan urban hospital before returning to the commu-nity to administer primary care.Another scenario in this category involvesincreasing the efficiency of a hospital’s specialists

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without reaching new patients. Several corporatehospitals routinely send their specialists toperipheral clinics, and telemedicine enables thedoctors to provide care by analysing reports at thebase hospital instead. In this situation there is onlyan exchange of patient records without any videoconference. For one large private hospital thisforms its only category of telemedicine.

(b) Care may also be provided by an outreach van thatmay be a stand-alone activity or complementary toa clinic (that may or may not be part of the sameorganization). In one example, a van carries nurses,general physicians and a technician, has a smallpharmacy, and is equipped to take ultrasounds,ECGs and X-rays. Specialist tele-consultations takeplace in cardiology, neurology or critical care. Inanother case, there is specific screening for dia-betes and diabetes-related complications like ne-phropathy and coronary artery disease. An eyehospital’s van programme may involve multipledistant doctors reviewing eye images in real time.The spectacles may be made in the van, or at thebase hospital with subsequent distribution by alocal NGO.

(c) Some programmes work through outreach healthworkers, especially the Accredited Social HealthActivists (ASHAs) who are part of theGovernment of India’s (GoI) National Rural HealthMission (NRHM).Largely, the programmes have been run in non-urban settings, although sometimes in urban slums,with those relating to mother and child health be-ing the most popular. The ASHAs have been pro-vided mobiles that are usually Java-based. Themobiles increase their stature in the community,and the message on the mobile is also taken moreseriously than the spoken word. The mobile mayhave an algorithmic set of questions that theASHA needs to ask the beneficiary, such as a preg-nant woman or a patient. It also tracks whethershe has made the requisite number of visits to thebeneficiary and has spent enough time per visit. Itimproves the quality of care, including follow-upand emergency care, and the number of referrals.Some software specializes in case management. Itcan track the number of beneficiaries in particularprogrammes and will identify someone who hasbeen lost to follow up. Monitoring the productivityof rural health workers, who normally work with-out supervision, is an important aspect of theseprogrammes. A separate initiative involves instruc-tional videos that are preloaded on a micro-SDcard for a mobile phone, that is purchased in smallshops. There are key messages on 14 health issues,

such as hand washing, oral rehydration therapyand exclusive breast feeding, that are derived froma document that is endorsed by organizations ofthe United Nations. These serve to educate theASHAs and beneficiaries directly as well. The ex-pectation is that the programme will modify behav-iour and reduce mortality, improve nutrition andso on. In some cases, the ASHAs receive modestcash incentives to bring patients to the centre fromwhere there is a telemedicine consultation. Despiteseveral challenges, as mentioned below, some ofthe ASHAs are highly motivated, contributing tothe success of the programmes.In a separate effort, more than 20,000 traditionalbirth attendants have been trained and given freehome delivery kits. They also use diagnostichardware that is tele-linked to doctors at a basehospital. Yet another kind of outreach consists of atechnician who visits diabetic patients, for instance.Pictures of the eye, taken with a mobile phone, aresent to the hospital for an opinion.

(d) Finally, mobile phone applications can includehealth related games that can be played on low endmobiles, and sms-es for behaviour change or forreminders of visits to the doctor.

Web based care in urban areas Aside from rural popu-lations, some telemedicine is geared to urban users, whoare targeted by for-profit companies. Some companiesfocus on primary and preventive care, creating aware-ness about health, diet and fitness, and working forbehaviour change. One company has tied up with a pri-vate telecommunications company to send health tips tousers’ mobiles. As part of this, proprietary content thatis culturally more suitable for Indian users may be devel-oped. They may also enable web-based consultations,with the patient reaching a nurse, a doctor or an ambu-lance from home. A suitable variety of doctors may beempanelled to handle multiple languages.One sub-category of web-based care is that of follow-

up telemedicine after surgery. Patients, primarily fromtier 2 and 3 towns, receive a password to a website whichenables communication with their doctor and an ex-change of files after returning home. This category domi-nates the telemedicine practice of one hospital chain.

Data collection and disease surveillanceThere are a large number of pilots concerned with datacollection in eHealth, primarily mHealth. Relevant stud-ies include the million deaths study (MDS) and medicalcertification of cause of death. MDS is the biggest elec-tronic health-related data collection project in the worldand is being done in partnership with GoI, which hasprovided access to its data collectors and the data

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already collected. Aside from collecting fresh data theparticipating organization is analyzing existing data andconverting records to an electronic form. The resultsfrom MDS can sometimes differ widely from other GoIdata, which should be useful inputs for better publichealth planning. A separate study concerns identifyinglong term risk factors for non-communicable diseases.In terms of disease surveillance, one study, concerned

with dengue, was a project to demonstrate that effectiveand up-to-date surveillance records can be created usingmobiles instead of paper. A typical record consisted ofthe patient’s name (optional), gender, age group, loca-tion, disease, signs, symptoms and case-status (referredand treated). Also, a text entry field termed ‘notes’ wasprovided to record additional information. It typicallytook less than 10 seconds for a record to be created, andthe submitted data was stored in a central database. Theapplication also had a store-and-forward modality incase of a break in connectivity.

Treatment ComplianceTwo programmes are concerned with treatment compli-ance, one involving patients and the other healthcare pro-viders. The first concerns antiretroviral (ART) adherence,and works on the Mobile Technology for CommunityHealth (MOTECH) platform, on a simple mobile. Thepatient selects options via an interactive voice responsesystem and receives automated advice. The programmecaptures adherence to six specific regimens and the algo-rithms also identify common side effects. It is useful evenin urban areas where patients may forget to ask questionsduring a doctor’s visit, may forget to take medicine, ormay be lost to follow up if they don’t return to the clinic.This is a qualitative pilot study. It is a successor to an earl-ier pilot, for both urban and rural patients, where the pre-ferred language, pitch of the voice and so on wereassessed to make the system more usable and friendly.The second programme involves managing, at scale,

tuberculosis (TB) registrations and TB suspects. Througha web-based interface, the ‘directly observed treatment,short-course’ (DOTS) provider uploads data on a patientand the drugs taken. The system also tracks when the pro-vider distributes a sputum collection container so that amap of TB suspects can be created. This programmeworks with GoI’s Revised National Tuberculosis ControlProgramme (RNTCP) to strengthen it, by using diagnosticand drug resources, also from RNTCP.

Distant medical educationDoctors’ education (either basic or continuing education)is a fairly active aspect of telemedicine in India today.Examples of such programmes are as follows. (i) Onecorporate hospital chain has conducted over 500 grandrounds through multi point video conferencing; (ii) A

medical college has conducted 1500 workshops and con-ferences using ISRO’s connectivity or over the internet;and (iii) GoI has created the Pan African eNetwork foreducation and health, covering 42 countries, which is usedboth for clinical consultations and for continuing medicaleducation. Thus, categories (ii) and (iii) are supported byGoI, but category (iii) is primarily delivered by privatemedical institutions.

TechnologyeHealth requires suitable technology, and interviewees re-ported on connectivity, software, hardware and analytics.

(a) Connectivity: The prime mover of telemedicine inIndia, ISRO, did proof of concept demonstrations inthe 1990s. This was a pioneering effort, evenglobally. Subsequently, in 2001, it became a regularprogramme in certain government hospitals.However internet and mobile connectivity are muchcheaper now. Moreover, satellite communicationequipment is extremely bulky and cannot be takento remote locations easily. So, although use of theISRO satellite connection persists, it is decreasing. Aspecial case of connectivity involves the (publicsector) Indian Railways. Most of the tracks arehooked up to the landline telephone network, andone public sector initiative locates projects nearrailway lines for this reason.

(b) Software: For outreach workers using mobiles, datacollection is not straightforward, given widespreadilliteracy or semi-literacy. The questionnaires haveto be primarily yes/no- or menu-driven. Data valid-ation is important in terms of the length of the an-swer and the types of characters entered, andnonsensical responses should be rejected by thesystem. In one case, the application has been com-pletely changed so that every question engages theuser through audio and visual props. Although thesoftware is sometimes designed to work on bothJava and Android phones, it usually has to work onlower cost mobiles. One organization distributesmobile phones and also provides a field engineerwho designs an application during the course ofthe project if required.

Software has also been created for electronicpatient records, for processing, compressing andtransferring images, for post-operative follow upand for back-end services. Commercial softwaretends to be compliant with Digital Imaging andCommunications in Medicine (Dicom) standardsand compatible with data formats from a widerange of devices. Some organizations use the opensource MOTECH and may feed their improve-ments to the platform for other users.

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(c) Hardware: Hardware usually records some or all ofthe following medical parameters: heart and lungsounds, blood pressure, temperature, bloodglucose, skin and ear, nose and throat images,SpO2, ECG and pulse rate. The data is captured,stored and transmitted to a central server. Severalvendors, or users, have developed their own device,with similar functionality. In one case it took sixmonths to develop the technology, and a furthersix months to validate it in public sector hospitals.The company has obtained the IEC mark for itsdevice and is now applying for the (European) CEmark. The device is usually sold, not rented.

(d) Analytics: In one case, the firm supplying thehardware subsequently does analytics on its clients’data related to disease profiles, the kind ofconsultations per patient, drugs prescribed anddiagnostic parameters of patients. It may also useeconomic and demographic data for modelling.This company does not rent or sell its hardware,and instead prefers to have a partnership with itsclients.

Challenges in eHealthThere are several challenges in this field of work, somepertaining to one or two programmes and others toseveral. These are listed below.

Donors: A major challenge concerns the tendency fordonors to like the concept of mHealth and to require itof the NGOs they fund. The NGO hastily proceeds,without fully understanding the requirements on theground. The programmes are therefore donor-drivenrather than needs-driven. Donors may also prefer togive money for a specific disease, although patients re-quire overall healthcare. Furthermore, donors (or cli-ents or technology providers) sometimes prefer thelatest technology, which can be a challenge to imple-ment once users are comfortable with an earlier one.Government: The GoI’s Planning Commission stronglyrecommends telemedicine. Nevertheless, there may bea lack of suitable policies, or lacunae in theirimplementation, that can prevent more effectivetelemedicine.In a government hospital, for instance, neither istelemedicine mandatory, nor does a doctor earn morefor this work. Therefore these doctors are oftenunmotivated to use this modality. In private hospitals,in contrast, a certain amount of van duty or othertelemedicine may be made a mandatory part of thedoctor’s job. In the largest government (satellite-enabled) programme which involves 425 set upsdonated by ISRO, 85% are not in use due to badmanagement, insufficient incentives, or lack of

technical staff or electricity. In this programme,although private hospitals constitute only 30% of theparticipating hospitals, they account for 70% of the tele-consultations, that are delivered on a non-profit basis.Although there are examples of NGOs or privatehealthcare providers working with the government anddoing a good job of creating telemedicine facilities andprogrammes, there can be several challenges inworking with a government (at the state level ornational). If a government agency is required to clear aprogramme or requires permission to be part of it,there can be large delays. More seriously, a change inthe government may lead to a programme being axed.Also, by government guidelines, the number of peoplecovered by a programme often serves as a surrogate forimpact, which can be unsatisfactory. In terms offunding, there may be a good budget, but no assuranceof how it will be spent. There needs to be a bettermatching of the needs and the financing, especiallybecause government funding usually comes with therequirement that the money has to be spent within theyear or be forfeited. Sometimes due to fear ofmisutilization much of the funds may remain unspentat the end of the year. Furthermore, governmentfunding often targets secondary and tertiary care thatrequires hospitalization, instead of primary or preventivecare, an exception being the ASHA programme.In terms of health education, the multi-levelled admin-istration can be inefficient in implementing complexprogrammes. Thus, a proposed 12-step process may bereduced to three steps by the time it is implemented,losing much of the meaning of the intervention. Yet an-other issue concerns corruption. By a minister’s ownadmission, preventive care projects are not lucrative,and therefore such projects tend not to be supported.Sometimes a state government issues a tender just forinfrastructure, since this is where people can make il-legal money, and does not plan for other elements of aprogramme.Telemedicine Society of India (TSI): In 2003–5 TSI’stelemedicine hype lead to the creation of infrastructureand to ISRO donating bandwidth and equipment.Unfortunately, due to the inefficiencies of the publicsector described above, the infrastructure has remainedlargely unused, leading to huge disillusionment ingovernment.Records and data: Many telemedicine projects arebased on the electronic collection and storage of data.However the government either mandates a paper-based system or it fears that the people dealing withpaper records will become redundant with a switch.Also, even if some data is collected electronically, theremainder has to be done by paper, lowering the incen-tive to shift to electronic records. Yet another challenge

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is that it is not trivial to collate data in a format inwhich it can be analyzed, and also map the data to thegeographic area of coverage. Furthermore, as NGOs orgovernments use mobiles, they may suddenly have largeamounts of data that they are not in a position to han-dle. They may then need to invest in human resourcesfor data analysis.Technology: There are several technological challengesin telemedicine. First, those who design the mobileapplications may do so without much understanding ofthe ground reality, making them sub-optimal. Second,as mentioned above, there is a trend to constantly up-grade software while the existing one is still functional.Instead of implementing a project with the currentsoftware, money is spent on developing and piloting anew version. Low end mobiles are widespread, butcheap smartphones such as the open-source Androiddevices would be better suited for people with poor lit-eracy, and for applications that employ a global posi-tioning system (GPS) tracking function. However if oneupgrades to a smartphone, one needs an applicationthat may no longer run on a simpler phone. Thus theremay be rapid obsolescence of the currently used hard-ware and software. Third, the novelty of the technologyhas required extended learning and optimization pe-riods for both manufacturers and implementers,thereby slowing or decreasing its spread, especially inthe early years. Fourth, the electric supply and networkcoverage can be poor, which is sometimes circum-vented by the store-and-forward modality. If the gov-ernment subsidised it, a satellite connection could beused where internet connectivity is absent, but no newsatellite-based connections are being established. Fifth,companies that were pioneers in this area were forcedto come up with their own technical solutions. Thus,hospitals may use proprietary software that is notDicom compliant, and therefore not transferable acrosshospitals with different patient flows, employmentstructures and so on. As and when modalities for scaleup across organizations are worked out, standardizedsoftware will become essential. Thus, there are severaltechnical challenges, and yet human resources are a farbigger issue, as discussed further below.Fragmentation of programmes: The most successfuleHealth programmes are driven by organizationsoutside the government, whether for-profit or non-profit. However even if a programme covers most of astate, it will be offered by a single organization, possiblyin partnership with the government. An exception is anophthalmology programme, developed by a private hos-pital in one state, that the government of another stateis copying. It is being rolled out as a public-privatepartnership, with the original hospital acting as a con-sultant to the private partner in the latter programme.

Thus, an over-arching issue concerning telemedicine,whether amongst those who run programmes, or thosewho develop the software or hardware, is that each ini-tiative is running on its own, without the sharing of ex-periences. Also, there isn’t much research in this area.This wastes resources due to the duplication of effort,and also impedes scale up.Communication: There are different kinds of challengesrelated to communication. First, since IT and medicalprofessionals don’t really understand each other,developing appropriate software is not straightforward.Second, for the educational projects, it is important forbeneficiaries to be engaged so that there is acceptanceof the information. Not everyone believes the messagesconcerning washing hands and sleeping properly forinstance. Thus, health has to be made an interestingtopic if such educational programmes are to succeed.Logistics: There are logistical challenges, especiallywhen working in remote areas. (i) It can take threemonths to plan a van trip. The planning includesidentifying NGOs and donors, educating patients aboutwhich conditions need medical attention andmotivating them to attend the camp. The follow-up ofpatients is also non-trivial. A specific challenge is thatthe van returns to the city every evening. It would takeseparate incentives to get doctors to stay on the roadovernight to enable them to reach the most distant pa-tients. (ii) Patients may come to the health centre onlyin the morning, although the specialist is available fortele-consultation only in the late afternoons. (iii) Afterthe tele-consultation, there can be the challenge of pa-tients’ access to drugs. To deliver drugs to a rural area,one organization tied up with public buses, and logisticswere worked out according to the bus schedules. Al-though the same organization also tried to work with un-branded generics, they found that the better distributionchannels of branded generics was worth the extra cost.Manpower: The shortage of skills is evident in a varietyof settings, as follows. (i) Although supposedlyeducated up to middle school, some ASHAs areilliterate and can barely answer a call. Thereforelearning how to use the phone can be a challenge.Their professional training may also be poor, leading tolow quality counselling of beneficiaries. (ii) Technicianswho work in the telemedicine centres are not skilled incomputer use and need to be trained. This can lead tohigh training expenditure and staff shortages. (iii) Aspecific challenge in MDS is the narrative part of theautopsy where health workers need to make accuratenotes based on what family members say. This requiresa special skill. (iv) The NGOs and research groups inhealth and population studies, and in the government,may find technology challenging. There may bereluctance to learn something new, and even if

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provided a ready product they will not necessarilymake full use of it. (v) A doctor needs special skill tointeract with rural patients, being empathetic andhumble, and discussing other things before healthissues. A change in doctor can lead to a big drop off inthe attendance at a rural facility if the new person lacksthese skills. (vi) The doctor must also be flexible, andbe able to function with the few facilities available in arural setting. (vii) People shifting to other jobs isanother persistent challenge. After some experience, afresh medical officer will soon get a higher paying jobelsewhere. Women birth attendants may get married,or pregnant, and leave. To tackle this issue, oneorganization only employs retired doctors, who moveless often. (viii) Some of the challenges relate toworking with technicians at a distance. Illustratively,one ophthalmology hospital does not allow a technicianto dilate the pupil since he would be unable to dealwith any side effects, and this limits the care that canbe offered. (ix) Even staff in rural areas who have beentrained may need re-training, sometimes weekly.Consulting the independent specialist: A challengespecific to tele-consultations relates to the delay andhassle involved in operating the computer and othertechnology without assistance, waiting for the connec-tion and so on. Further, billing and transferring moneyelectronically means that doctors have to pay taxes onthis income. Unless there are 30–50 consultations aday it is usually not worth the specialist’s time, and thismay not have happened yet.Attitude: Aside from skills, the attitude of everyoneinvolved in telemedicine plays a very important role inits success. (i) Implementers need to have contagiousenthusiasm for their projects. If they take the healthworkers into confidence at every stage of the project,the latter develop a much needed sense of ownership ofthe project. (ii) An ASHA is often more preoccupiedwith her own household than with her official work.(iii) A common problem is that a rural doctor may betoo ‘proud’ to consult an urban specialist, despitepatients’ requests. (iv) Users’ acceptance of bothtechnology and mode of healthcare delivery isimportant, and convincing them may take considerableeffort. (v) Services related to family planning,contraception and abortion cannot be implementedeasily in South India, which is more conservative. Alsothere are more qualified allopathic medicalpractitioners available in the south, so a project cannotbe run with the less qualified Registered MedicalPractitioners who will be accepted in the north.

Policies and regulationA number of government policies can affect mHealthoperations, yet different categories of programs will be

affected by different policies. For example, those aimedat improving rural infrastructure such as electrificationand mobile network coverage are likely to have a posi-tive impact on most programs. This is happening incertain regions of the country, although other regionsare still neglected. Policies that make mHealth dutycompulsory for doctors working in public hospitalswould benefit telemedicine programs that involve col-laboration with such hospitals. A policy that promotesand supports the funding of the complete substitutionof paper records with electronic ones will contribute tothe expansion of data collection and disease surveillanceprograms. Such policies are much awaited by theeHealth community.Regulation of mHealth in India is an emerging issue

and whereas the telemedicine community came up withguidelines in 2003, these apparently had many wrongpremises, such as the assumption that a doctor is presentto sign a patient’s consent form, and this has lead tocriticism. Currently there are no national guidelines formHealth practice, which gives the implementers muchfreedom. Illustratively, one private tele-opthalmology op-erator intentionally does not inform patients about thefact that the pictures of their retina are transmitted to aremote location where they are analysed by a specialistdoctor. In general, most telemedicine operators reportedthat they comply with regulations of standard medicalpractice laid down by the Medical Council of India andstate regulatory bodies. For example, an operator of mo-bile telemedicine centres manned exclusively by non-medical staff could not deploy a mobile pharmacy becauseonly qualified pharmacists are allowed to dispense pre-scription drugs. Since no pharmacies were present in theconcerned rural areas, drugs were dispensed in a city andshipped to villages on scheduled buses as described in thesection Logistics above.

Finances and sustainabilityOne of the biggest challenges facing most of theprogrammes concerns funding and sustainability. Thesources of funds (or other crucial support) for eachprogramme are listed in Additional file 2. These are pri-marily philanthropic donors, government (that usuallyprovides non-cash support), cross-subsidy or revenue,and rare cases of venture capital. The financial sustain-ability of each programme is also discussed. In terms ofgovernment-run or supported schemes (including thoseinvolving ASHAs), these will be sustainable so long asthe government continues its support. In several cases,sustainability is dependent on patient volume. Thusthere are geographic limitations on where such pro-grammes can run. Low-cost efforts such as health infor-mation, where corporates see value in large-scalevisibility, are sustainable due to the latters’ support. For-

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profit endeavours that depend on venture capital invest-ment are yet to prove their sustainability, even in urbanareas.The costs for some aspects of the programmes are

listed in Additional file 3. These include capital expend-iture such as that for a van (Rs. 25–30,00,000), a stationaryclinic (Rs. 1–2,00,000 for a basic clinic or Rs. 5–6,00,000for an eye clinic) or a mobile phone (Rs. 4,500 for a mid-range model), and running costs such as doctors’ salaries(Rs. 6000 for a fresh graduate in a rural area), incentives toASHA workers (Rs. 100 a month to bring patients to atele-medicine centre) or mobile phone connection charges(Rs. 199 for a month’s rental for biosurveillance work).Since most of the programmes are run by non-proft or-ganizations and are geared to poor patients, runningcosts tend to be a small fraction of what would becharged by a for-profit entity in an urban environment,for example.A specific mention should be made of how doctors

were paid for their involvement in eHealth. In the mostsuccessful programmes, run by large non profit hospi-tals, doctors were not paid beyond their regular salaries.In government hospitals, too, there was no separate feeto a doctor. In the less successful website-based consult-ation programs doctors were paid via bank transfers bythe website.

DiscussionEvery sixth person in the world lives in India. The avail-ability and affordability of good healthcare is highlyvariable for different segments of the population, andtherefore understanding the status of a given health sys-tem in the country is important to both national andglobal health. In contrast to previous articles on eHealthin India, which often focussed on single programmes,this study reviews the current scope of work in this fieldfrom the points of view of designers, implementers, evalu-ators and technology partners of a variety of programmes.However we have not quantified our data, or done a stake-holder analysis, which is left for a separate study.The programmes of this study fall into four of the five

eHealth themes previously identified in the literature[24]. The fifth, emergency medical response, could notbe included due to our inability to recruit relevant inter-viewees. Also, we did not encounter programmes forhandling poor drug inventory and supply chain manage-ment [25] or for streamlining financial transactions ormitigating fraud and abuse in drug authenticity or pa-tient identity for instance [11] as reported from otherdeveloping countries. eHealth in India has not focussedon high end technologies such as robotic surgeries.These make interesting news but are not particularlyrelevant to efforts at changing health outcomes for alarge population. Indeed, the programmes that fared well

employed low cost and simple technologies. Whereasthe literature reports challenges due to the high cost orcomplexity of technology [24], we did not identify anysuch case in India although (i) the bulkiness and complex-ity of satellite connectivity may lead to its obsolescencesoon and (ii) doctors may find even operating a computeran irritation when there are insufficient numbers of pa-tients requiring this modality. Interestingly, the low costhardware was often developed indigenously. Biomedicalinnovation is a recent but documented phenomenon inIndia [26] and this study contributes to such literature.Suitable software is also developed locally, as happens inAfrica as well [27].The eHealth programmes face a range of challenges,

several described elsewhere [11,24,27]. However somestand out for their likely persistence. The shortage ofhealth care professionals, especially in rural areas, ser-iously impacts eHealth operations. Organizations strug-gle to train and retain skilled human resources. There isa scarcity of published research on the types of incen-tives that are effective in promoting the adoption andproper use of mHealth by such health professionals [24]and our study provides novel insights into this issue. Inthe rural setting, the retention of health workers is en-abled chiefly by (i) training local residents who return totheir village on completion of training and (ii) explainingto health workers the benefits of using mobile technolo-gies, such as the increase in their efficiency and en-hancement of their social status. In the urban setting,non-hospital based tele-medicine centres should selectdoctors based on their (a) ability to communicate withvillage folk, (b) ability to manage the distant patient whohas limited resources, (c) preference in working in suchan office rather than a clinic and (d) willingness to stayin a given organization for a few years rather than mov-ing on soon. The largest cities are a preferable locationfor such a telemedicine centre due to the oversupply ofdoctors there. Overall, the private sector (non-profit orfor-profit) has been more effective in ensuring that wheredoctors are supposed to do telemedicine in addition toregular hospital duties, they do so. The lack of suitable in-centives remains a major problem in the public sector (asnoted in the need for providing higher quality of regularhealthcare also [7]), and amongst doctors with their ownpractice. Interestingly, whereas research in other develop-ing countries has suggested that medical professionals,including doctors, find mobiles valuable for their owneducation [24], our study confirmed this phenomenonwith rural workers but not urban doctors.mHealth programmes that collect data at unprece-

dented speed are also affected by a shortage of skilledmanpower. We have found that neither the relevantgovernment programmes nor private organizations mayhave the human resources capable of analysing and

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applying the findings in a meaningful way. Because suchprogrammes often have public health importance, theirfuture will depend both on close involvement with rele-vant government agencies and on new policies that pro-mote a complete substitution of paper-based systemswith electronic ones. Implementing this on a large scalewill be a non-trivial task.Likewise, the scale up of successful treatment compli-

ance pilots can only happen in close coordination withpublic sector programmes that provide free diagnosisand treatment to significant fractions of patients withHIV/AIDS or TB [28,29]. As suggested by previous re-search [24], partnering with existing public health pro-grammes is a preferable general strategy for the scale upof mHealth pilots, but with a few exceptions this is yetto happen in India.The eHealth implementers of this study, whether for-

profit or non-profit, have been supported by, or haveengaged with, government institutions in a range of waysalthough the latter can sometimes be a challenge: (i)accessing satellite connectivity for free; (ii) collaboratingwith the ASHA programme, the Registrar General ofIndia (for the MDS) or the RNTCP; (iii) collaboratingwith government hospitals for screening newborns, aprogramme in which the state government pays the sal-aries of the relevant personnel, who have been selectedby the private hospital; (iv) arranging van-based campsafter discussion with the district collector who indicateswhere they should be, since this was more effective thanapproaching the head of a village directly and (v) oc-casionally using the government’s rural health centresfor tele-medicine consultations. Most government fa-cilitation is through its infrastructure or personnel,not through funding. Notably, such private-public col-laborations were more successful than entirely publicprogrammes. In the ISRO-promoted telemedicine ini-tiative and the government-managed medical educa-tion programme, most sessions have been deliveredby private organizations on a non-profit basis, and theseprogrammes continue to grow. Nevertheless, there are norigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of this educa-tional modality [13].This issue of the cost-effectiveness of eHealth is a mat-

ter of debate globally, and rigorous research in this areais missing [13,30]. Whereas none of the interviewedorganizations could provide us with such data, there wasa general belief that, given poor health awareness andthe scale of neglect of health care in rural India, any ini-tiative that improves the situation is justified. Thereforeseveral organizations have experimented with eHealthdelivery and sustainability models over the past decade,motivated by a desire to bring their services to rural areasrather than by hard evidence of the cost-effectiveness ofsuch efforts.

As elsewhere [25] our study included several unsustain-able pilots. The programmes that appear to be financiallysustainable are: (a) government programmes; (b) privateinitiatives supported by the government, including thoserun in remote areas or those run over a large area such asan entire state; (c) programmes run by large non-profithospitals; and (d) in one case corporate sponsorship wasenough to sustain the low cost activity of dissemination ofhealth information. With regard to category (c), there arepricing/financing models where richer patients in the city-based hospitals subsidize the expenses of treating poorerurban or rural patients. The larger hospitals also haveenough doctors for the telemedicine programme. In caseswhere the running expenditure is met by patient fees thiswill work even though the rates charged can be an orderof magnitude less than what is charged in urban areas solong as there is a sufficient number of patients. Patientturnout depends on the quality of the staff, but also on thelocation, since rural or remote areas may have a low popu-lation density.Overall, we believe that the strengths of this study are

that it has interviewed a very diverse set of organiza-tions, that heavily overlap known categories from otherstudies in the developing world, and are representativeof the field of eHealth in India today. We have been ableto catalogue the nature of work, the challenges and thefinances that affect these areas of work. There are, how-ever, some weaknesses. We were unable to record theinterviews, and thus if there were nuances that wouldhave been picked up in the subsequent analysis of re-corded interviews, we may have missed them. Althoughwe interviewed a wide set of organizations, the numberfor most of the categories is low. Point-of-care (24 cases),and within that rural care (21 cases), is the only set of ac-tivities involving interviews in the double digits. We be-lieve that these weaknesses notwithstanding, the analysisdone would be useful to policy makers and to entrepre-neurs or others wishing to enter this field.

ConclusionseHealth in India is primarily targeted at those unreachedby modern medicine, and it is a challenge to run for-profit programmes where most beneficiaries are poor. Interms of scale, charitable organizations, particularlythose that do not generate their own revenue, are usuallyunable to impact millions of beneficiaries. One of theirbiggest challenges is finance. Since the fees are alreadyvery low, it may not be possible to try and increase thenumber of beneficiaries by further reduction. There isalso a danger in raising the fees, since this may make theservice beyond the reach of current beneficiaries. Thus,it may require other efforts to put the programmes on astronger financial footing. Aside from steps already men-tioned, such as improved infrastructure, compulsory

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telemedicine duty for doctors in government hospitals,and replacement of paper records with e-records fordata collection and surveillance, the government couldconsider the following steps:

1. Capital support based on track record. Over time, aneHealth activity could receive incrementallyincreased support, based on annual performance.Half or more of the capital expenditure could beborne by the government.

2. Provide matching funds per patient. Thegovernment could consider matching the doctors’fees charged to patients (and perhaps the cost ofmedicines or diagnostic tests), for non-profit eHealthproviders in particular.

3. Support training programmes. Since training is amajor expense, this could be supported just as otherskill-building or educational activities in the countryare supported by the government. Awareness pro-grammes, including health-based games, could con-ceivably also be given matching grants, especiallywhen offered by non-profit organizations.

4. Tax benefits to any hospital offering a certainnumber of free teleconsultations per year.

Separately, and as recommended by the authors else-where [26], the government should provide greaterclarity on the specifications that novel mHealth devicesmust meet, to help entrepreneurs avoid the cost anddelay of obtaining international certifications. Likewise,greater public sector procurement would help entrepre-neurs in this sector.Some of the policy recommendations above are based

on tracking patient use. For e-health initiatives, by defin-ition, record keeping should not prove a challenge.In the absence of such interventions, eHealth will es-

sentially be left to the government if it is to have a largeimpact. Our study indicates, however, that programmesleft solely to the government are not very effective. Apartnership between the government and either a for-profit or a non-profit is the most likely to succeed. Evenso, the lack of suitable human resources in rural areaswill be a challenge to any large scale effort.

Additional files

Additional file 1: The questionnaire used as a template for theinterviews. The questions were modified suitably if the interviewee wasactive in other aspects of eHealth. Also, only relevant questions wereasked of an interviewee.

Additional file 2: For 21 organizations, the nature of theorganization, the categories of work undertaken, its sources offunding and comments about its financial stability.

Additional file 3: The costs of some elements of eHealth in Indiatoday.

AbbreviationsART: Anti-retroviral treatment; ASHA: Accredited Social Health Activist;CSR: Corporate social responsibility; DICOM: Digital Imaging andCommunications in Medicine; DOTS: Directly observed treatment, short-course;ECG: Electrocardiogram device; GoI: Government of India; GPS: Globalpositioning system; HIV/AIDS: Human immunodeficiency virus/acquiredimmunodeficiency syndrome; ICT: Information and communicationtechnologies; ISRO: Indian Space Research Organization; MDS: Million deathsstudy; MOTECH: Mobile Technology for Community Health; NGO: Non-governmental organization; NRHM: National Rural Health Mission;RNTCP: Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme; sms: Shortmessage service; TB: Tuberculosis; TSI: Telemedicine Society of India.

Competing interestsGS’s research is funded by Institut Merieux (IM), Lyon, which has financialinterests in the medical technology industry. However IM does not have anyinterest in telemedicine per se. Its sole role was in general funding toresearch in GS’s group, as indicated below. It did not play any specific role inthe study such as proposing it, designing it, or analyzing the results.

Authors’ contributionsGS proposed the study. SJ performed the interviews. SJ and GS analyzed theinterview notes and wrote the manuscript. Both authors read and approvedthe final manuscript.

AcknowledgementsWe would like to first thank all the interviewees who were so generous withtheir time. We are deeply grateful to IM which has funded several projects ofGS’s group, including this study. We are also grateful to France Volontaires,Ivry-sur-Seine, which supported SJ in India. Finally, we thank Sangita Kumarifor assistance.

Received: 6 July 2013 Accepted: 13 December 2013Published: 6 January 2014

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doi:10.1186/1472-6947-14-1Cite this article as: Jarosławski and Saberwal: In eHealth in India today,the nature of work, the challenges and the finances: an interview-basedstudy. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2014 14:1.

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