- Making Big Impacts, Stories from the Field, Transforming Lives
by Mahashweta Pradhan
Bastar, Chhattisgarh
As small as an air purifier or portable air conditioner, Mission Anandi’s mobile cancer screening unit is being wheeled into village halls of women from the Osmanabad district of Maharashtra. These women – often unable to receive quality healthcare – are receiving a first of a kind: a medical check-up in their own village by an AI-enabled cancer detection unit.
Mission Anandi is a joint initiative of the Osmanabad District Administration and Transform Rural India. The tools were developed by NIRAMAI Health Analytix. The district works with the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital, in the city of Solapur, for treating identified cases.
Rural women are often unable to reach medical facilities for regular health checks that could prevent life-threatening illness like cancer or diabetes. But thanks to the Mission Anandi, 25,000 women over 30 will get regular screening. The initiative uses five low-cost AI-based medical devices and a dedicated team that will travel door-to-door over the next year. They will screen for anaemia, diabetes hypertension as well as oral, breast and cervical cancer.
These innovative tools, developed by NIRAMAI Health Analytix, will enhance the effectiveness of female breast screening through the non-invasive devices, which act as automated cancer screening tools. Any suspected cases are further referred to the designated secondary or tertiary hospitals in the district for confirmatory diagnosis.
There were two significant challenges in this scheme. Firstly, ensuring the quality of services provided by the health facilities and the data reporting. These were improved by frequently visiting random health facilities and inspecting the data, interviewing the beneficiaries for quality of services and review meetings. Doing so has helped, but there’s still scope for improvement. The second challenge was related to the diagnosis of referred patients to the secondary or tertiary facilities for confirming the diagnosis, as well as challenges with the availability of trained staff and diagnostic services. So, the district geared up training and set up collaborations for diagnosis with neighboring districts and medical colleges.
Mukesh Choyal an agri based entrepreneur supported by us has got opportunity to incubate his enterprise by Krishi Vigyan Kendra. Mukesh Choyal an agri based entrepreneur supported by us has got opportunity to incubate his enterprise by Krishi Vigyan Kendra. Mukesh Choyal an agri based entrepreneur supported by us has got opportunity to incubate his enterprise by Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
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