Statistics of PHC's (Primary Health Center) in India:
There is 1 PHC for every 25,000 population
PHC for - Promotive, Preventive, Curative and Rehabilitative Care
This implies offering a wide range of services such as health education, promotion of nutrition, basic sanitation, the provision of mother and child family welfare services, immunization, disease control and appropriate treatment for illness and injury.
Each PHC is a hub for 5-6 Sub-Centers.
Each PHC is covers 3-4 Villages.
Each PHC is coordinated by a ANM (Auxiliary Mid Wife)
PHC's will be referral centers for Community Health Centers (CHC), which is a minimum 30 bedded-hospital or higher at the Taluk or District Levels.
WHO Report
According to WHO, PHC's in India specifically attribute to deterioration of quality services due to parameters like - lack of political commitment, inadequate allocation of financial resources to PHC's and stagnation of inter-sectoral strategies and community participation. Also in the list of reasons are bureaucratic approach to HealthCare implementation, lack of accountability and responsiveness from general public.
Key Points to observe:
1. PHC's through out the country have the same number of ANM's even though the fertility rate varies in different parts of the country.
2. Political interference in creating PHC's.
3. Government departments are more involved in ensuring government norms are implemented, salaries are paid and minimum facilities are available rather than concentrating on measuring Health System Performance.
4. The DHO (District Health Officer), responsible for implementation of Public Health Systems are not adequately trained.
Strengthening the capacity for Public Health Management at the District and Taluk level is crucial to improving public sector performance.
Why the system is not working as required?
1. Lack of accountability in the system.
2. No formal feedback mechanism to ensure proper implementation of the system.
3. No incentives for Doctors to work in the Rural areas.
4. Irresponsible mind-set of ANM's (this happens as there is no feedback mechanism)
5. Lack of resources (staff).
6. Current budget allocation of Rs. 75,000 / PHC / Annum is very less when considering the population each PHC has to cater to (5000 people).
What do we do?
1. Periodic HealthCare Education in Schools, Panchayat/Taluk Offices - NGO, Private Institutions and Social Entrepreneurs.
2. Community involvement - Government / Private Partnership
3. Public Health Training programs for DMO's and other staff - Government / Private Partnership.
4. Appropriate and functioning feedback mechanism to ensure people understand that they are cared for and their feedback is valued for betterment of the system - Government
I will revisit this topic of what we can do better in my forthcoming writings.
Due credits to Neesha Patel, author of Evaluating the role of Primary Health Centers in India.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
India HealthCare Project
India HealthCare Project, is an initiative of CMC which designs and develops PDA (Personal Data Assistant) systems to ANM (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) who works at the grass-root level of delivering HealthCare. This project has been piloted and implemented in the Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh.
Read more on this project at http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/jun2003/article4.htm.
Read more on this project at http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/jun2003/article4.htm.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Independence Day
India, today is celebrating 60 years of independence. Is that old or young? If we look at the average life god has given a human being, then we need to say that the country has just attained Senior Citizenship status. But, as the country is made when mother earth is born, I don't think we can even say our country is even an infant :)
What has been good?
- Liberalization
- Globalization
- Quality of Life
What needs to improve?
- Education
- HealthCare
- Sense of Ownership
I will write more in detail on the points above in my following posts, but for today, I would stop here, praying to God to give peace and prosperity to each and every one living on this planet :)
What has been good?
- Liberalization
- Globalization
- Quality of Life
What needs to improve?
- Education
- HealthCare
- Sense of Ownership
I will write more in detail on the points above in my following posts, but for today, I would stop here, praying to God to give peace and prosperity to each and every one living on this planet :)
Saturday, August 04, 2007
7 Types of Poverty
Bhagavatula Charitable Trust (BCT), runs Innovative Experimental Primary Schools (IEP) in 72 Villages in Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, India.
What is the difference between IEP and regular Government Schools?
IEP schools, apart from regular academics, work towards education children in the age group 11-15 on the 7 types of Poverty which are required to uplift the quality of life. Our usual assumption of Poverty is only Economic Poverty. However, this is just one of the kinds. We have to even look at the following types to ensure quality of life improved:
1. Economic Poverty
2. Bodily Poverty
3. Mental Poverty
4. Cultural Poverty
5. Spiritual Poverty
6. Political Poverty
7. Societal Poverty
Now, it makes more interesting to understand these aspects. Even though the above are talked about in the BCT Project homepage, I will write again here in my own words and understanding.
Economic Poverty - Lack of monitory demands for providing themselves with Food, Cloth and Shelter. Please note that money need for only the mentioned attributes falls under this category.
Bodily Poverty - Lack of property physical health and access to health living conditions.
Mental Poverty - Lack of thinking, which is resultant of lack of access to education and knowledge.
Cultural Poverty - Lack of coming together in a society. No collaborative activities taking place which leads to disconnect between people.
Spiritual Poverty - surprising right? Yes, lack of feeling of togetherness/brotherhood plays an important role in bringing people together.
Political Poverty - Lack of understanding of how system works. The basic problem is the understanding of how to cast one's vote and elect their leader.
Societal Poverty - Lack of social connectivity.
What is the difference between IEP and regular Government Schools?
IEP schools, apart from regular academics, work towards education children in the age group 11-15 on the 7 types of Poverty which are required to uplift the quality of life. Our usual assumption of Poverty is only Economic Poverty. However, this is just one of the kinds. We have to even look at the following types to ensure quality of life improved:
1. Economic Poverty
2. Bodily Poverty
3. Mental Poverty
4. Cultural Poverty
5. Spiritual Poverty
6. Political Poverty
7. Societal Poverty
Now, it makes more interesting to understand these aspects. Even though the above are talked about in the BCT Project homepage, I will write again here in my own words and understanding.
Economic Poverty - Lack of monitory demands for providing themselves with Food, Cloth and Shelter. Please note that money need for only the mentioned attributes falls under this category.
Bodily Poverty - Lack of property physical health and access to health living conditions.
Mental Poverty - Lack of thinking, which is resultant of lack of access to education and knowledge.
Cultural Poverty - Lack of coming together in a society. No collaborative activities taking place which leads to disconnect between people.
Spiritual Poverty - surprising right? Yes, lack of feeling of togetherness/brotherhood plays an important role in bringing people together.
Political Poverty - Lack of understanding of how system works. The basic problem is the understanding of how to cast one's vote and elect their leader.
Societal Poverty - Lack of social connectivity.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Dazasya is Born
Friday, July 20, 2007
Evening with Subrato Bagchi
Have been to the "An Evening with Subrato Bagchi" organized by TiE. It was really a good evening which gave an insight to being an High Performace Entrepreneur.
The evening started with a 30 minute video which Mr. Subrato made interviewing his top 3 High Performance Entrepreneurs. Mr. Subrato strongly feels that being an Entrepreneur is different and being a High Performance Entrepreneur is different. His top 3 High Performance Entrepreneur's are not from the usual Technology start-up's, but from different sectors:
Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - Biocon
Mr. Sidharth - Cafe Coffee Day
Capt. Gopinath - AirDeccan
The video is absolutely fantastic. I liked the the way Mr. Subrato started the evening. The video's were truly inspiring and it was a very good way to start a gathering who are aspiring to be Entrepreneurs.
I tried making notes of key points during the video sessions:
Mr. Sidharth - Cafe Coffee Day
Capt. Gopinath - Deccan Aviation
For a middle-class, school teacher's son, life has been quite different and taken different path's. Capt. Gopinath completed education and joined the India Armed Forces. After his retirement, came back to his village to do something different. They had few acres of land in which he started Organic farming. He has received an award from Central Government for "Ecological Farming".
Capt. Gopinath was not too happy with his farming as he wanted to come out of the debt-trap. In India, most of the farmers are caught in the debt-trap for one reason or the other and this continued to even generations. He was clear that he wanted to come out of this cycle and create something big and different. He has spent most of his time in villages and he did see a lot of change in the livelihood of villagers. Until recently, villages did not see light of a bulb and even today, there are areas in the country where electricity is still a stranger. Over a period of time, he noticed changes. When one day he was flying in a helicopter, he say TV antenna's standing out of huts. Today, when you pass by a village, you will might see at least one/two cars and few motorcycles, however, most of the households have a TV. This made him think.
One day, when his friend from Army called to tell him that he has got a job after moving out of Armed Forces, which was very different from what he was doing earlier. Capt. Gopinath was happy that his friend could get a job, but was not too happy as he felt that someone was missing a great pilot (His friend was a pilot).
Once, he was in Phoenix airport and was walking along the airport waiting for his pick up helicopter. What he noticed were the number of take-off's and landing which were happening. He felt that Phoenix airport handles more airplanes in a day than all of Indian airports put together at that time. He saw a potential dream - "BILLION INDIANS CAN FLY". This is what no major corporation saw.
Deccan Aviation, was born as a Helicopter Service. Today, they have 14 helicopters which they rent out for various business and are the largest helicopter company in the country.
He wanted to take Deccan Aviation to the next level and Air Deccan was born. His only dream is that "Billion Indians can fly".
When starting Air Deccan, Capt. Gopinath says, that the best thing he did was not to hire a consultant. Because, he feels that if you hire a consultant, you are bound to do what they want and not what you want.
Another key thing which he points to entrepreneurs are the politicians and the way they try to handle you when you are on your way to go big. Simple mantra for this is - "Sell you idea and have the media and Public behind you and the politicians do not come in your way". Quite simple, but this is an absolute reality and fact. So next time you have a big idea, win the confidence of media and public and you are on your way to success.
Message to Entrepreneurs - "Find a way to do, if you cant, CREATE IT".
Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - Biocon
Since the beginning Mrs. Kiran wanted to be independent and wanted to make a Professional Career. She studied in India and went to Australia to do her masters in Brewery. When she came back, she could not get a job anywhere. All prospective employers were politely saying no to a women brew-master. She either got a job in Quality Control or other administrative divisions except where she specialises in.
One day, she received a call from Biocon Chemicals Limited, an Irish company who were looking at potential partners to step into India. Kiran was suprised, but wanted to take up the challenge.
In 1978, Biocon started its operations with partnership with Biocon Chemicals (this is how Biocon got its name from its parent company).
The venture began in her garage and then slowly moved to a small place in an industrial area in Bangalore. The company grew strong and steady. After 23 years, Biocon became a Listed company in 2001 on the 18 June.
Mrs. Kiran says "Entrepreneurship is having a Vision and Building the Vision". There is nothing more or less to it. You will have to consistently work towards building your vision and that is what makes you deliver.
Her inspiration - INDIA. She feels that doing these things (what her company does) in India is her true inspiration.
Her Mantra - "Harder I work, Luckier I get" - In my view, this is the absolute key to success and I strongly believe in this.
No wonder why Subrato short-listed the three above as "High Performance Entrepreneurs", they really are.
Mr. Subrato and his Team
After the video, Surato started with his slides. His slides come as key points from his book - The High Performance Entrepreneur.
Here are few key take-aways from his slides:
DNA - Who you are?
Mission - Where you are going?
Vision - Set of time-bound and measurable goals.
Values - Shared code of Conduct.
Key differentiations which MindTree has identified before they started - Domain, Tools, Methodology, Quality, Innovation and Branding.
Subrato feels that for any entrepreneurial activity, there will be key differentiators and these differentiators are like horses pulling the chariot. All of them have to move in the same direction, with the same speed and focus.
Message to Entrepreneurs - "Human being is looking for Danger and that is why you have taken this path. To overcome the danger, you will need to work towards having the ropes tight.
Entrepreneurship is like a marathon. In long distant running, you will need to accept and bare segmented pain.
Now, why did I write this here in my Social Entrepreneurship blog, because Entrepreneurship is Entrepreneurship, be it for a social cause or be it for any other motive. Entrepreneurship is realising your dreams and making them come true.
"Love for Money" - Yes, it is required in any kind of Entrepreneurship. As one of the MindTree Co-founders and CFO Rusto mentioned, you will need money to run your enterprise and also ensure it keeps running, realising your dreams.
The evening started with a 30 minute video which Mr. Subrato made interviewing his top 3 High Performance Entrepreneurs. Mr. Subrato strongly feels that being an Entrepreneur is different and being a High Performance Entrepreneur is different. His top 3 High Performance Entrepreneur's are not from the usual Technology start-up's, but from different sectors:
Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - Biocon
Mr. Sidharth - Cafe Coffee Day
Capt. Gopinath - AirDeccan
The video is absolutely fantastic. I liked the the way Mr. Subrato started the evening. The video's were truly inspiring and it was a very good way to start a gathering who are aspiring to be Entrepreneurs.
I tried making notes of key points during the video sessions:
Mr. Sidharth - Cafe Coffee Day
- Was an average student in class.
- Comes from modest family who runs coffee estates.
- Completed college and started working. He was hard-working and was working an average of 16-17 Hours/Day, 6 Days a week (many times even 7 Days a week).
- "I knew the estate in & out".
- His passion of creating capital became smart investment.
- Today, he manages 10,000 acers of coffee estates.
- One day, while in Singapore, he was walking down a lane and noticed students browsing Internet with a Beer can. This was where he thought of starting something similar back in India. As he owned Coffee estates, his idea was to start coffee shop with Internet and good ambiance so that people can spend time and doing what they like. This is how Coffee Day was born.
- First Coffee Day was born in Bangalore on Brigade Road in 1996.
- In 10 years, today, they have close to 500 Cafe Coffee Day outlets in around 70 cities in India.
- When he was beginning his business, people around him did not give a good push. "Who would drink your coffee in a posh store paying more when they could get same coffee at Rs.2 in any coffee joint?". But, he saw a lot of potential in the India consumer and went ahead with his business model.
- Over a period of time, there were many competitors and Sidharth felt that they were running out of track. Immediately plunged into action and got Cafe Coffee Day back to track. Today, they have many competitors, but still they maintain key differentiators to ensure they are on track. One of their strategy was to open more and more outlets so that it gets synonymous with coffee and they have been successful. Their competitors are not nearing they fast pace.
- In the next 3 years, their vision is to "Be the largest Coffee Company in India".
- In the next 10 years, they want to be a Billion Dollar Coffee Company.
- In the next 2 years, they want to be a 1,500 Coffee Day outlet chain.
- His key to success - "Don't Celebrate success, be calm during downs and THINK BIG.
Capt. Gopinath - Deccan Aviation
For a middle-class, school teacher's son, life has been quite different and taken different path's. Capt. Gopinath completed education and joined the India Armed Forces. After his retirement, came back to his village to do something different. They had few acres of land in which he started Organic farming. He has received an award from Central Government for "Ecological Farming".
Capt. Gopinath was not too happy with his farming as he wanted to come out of the debt-trap. In India, most of the farmers are caught in the debt-trap for one reason or the other and this continued to even generations. He was clear that he wanted to come out of this cycle and create something big and different. He has spent most of his time in villages and he did see a lot of change in the livelihood of villagers. Until recently, villages did not see light of a bulb and even today, there are areas in the country where electricity is still a stranger. Over a period of time, he noticed changes. When one day he was flying in a helicopter, he say TV antenna's standing out of huts. Today, when you pass by a village, you will might see at least one/two cars and few motorcycles, however, most of the households have a TV. This made him think.
"Villages have become aspirational and people were wanting more."
One day, when his friend from Army called to tell him that he has got a job after moving out of Armed Forces, which was very different from what he was doing earlier. Capt. Gopinath was happy that his friend could get a job, but was not too happy as he felt that someone was missing a great pilot (His friend was a pilot).
Once, he was in Phoenix airport and was walking along the airport waiting for his pick up helicopter. What he noticed were the number of take-off's and landing which were happening. He felt that Phoenix airport handles more airplanes in a day than all of Indian airports put together at that time. He saw a potential dream - "BILLION INDIANS CAN FLY". This is what no major corporation saw.
Deccan Aviation, was born as a Helicopter Service. Today, they have 14 helicopters which they rent out for various business and are the largest helicopter company in the country.
He wanted to take Deccan Aviation to the next level and Air Deccan was born. His only dream is that "Billion Indians can fly".
When starting Air Deccan, Capt. Gopinath says, that the best thing he did was not to hire a consultant. Because, he feels that if you hire a consultant, you are bound to do what they want and not what you want.
Another key thing which he points to entrepreneurs are the politicians and the way they try to handle you when you are on your way to go big. Simple mantra for this is - "Sell you idea and have the media and Public behind you and the politicians do not come in your way". Quite simple, but this is an absolute reality and fact. So next time you have a big idea, win the confidence of media and public and you are on your way to success.
Message to Entrepreneurs - "Find a way to do, if you cant, CREATE IT".
Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - Biocon
Since the beginning Mrs. Kiran wanted to be independent and wanted to make a Professional Career. She studied in India and went to Australia to do her masters in Brewery. When she came back, she could not get a job anywhere. All prospective employers were politely saying no to a women brew-master. She either got a job in Quality Control or other administrative divisions except where she specialises in.
One day, she received a call from Biocon Chemicals Limited, an Irish company who were looking at potential partners to step into India. Kiran was suprised, but wanted to take up the challenge.
In 1978, Biocon started its operations with partnership with Biocon Chemicals (this is how Biocon got its name from its parent company).
The venture began in her garage and then slowly moved to a small place in an industrial area in Bangalore. The company grew strong and steady. After 23 years, Biocon became a Listed company in 2001 on the 18 June.
Mrs. Kiran says "Entrepreneurship is having a Vision and Building the Vision". There is nothing more or less to it. You will have to consistently work towards building your vision and that is what makes you deliver.
Her inspiration - INDIA. She feels that doing these things (what her company does) in India is her true inspiration.
Her Mantra - "Harder I work, Luckier I get" - In my view, this is the absolute key to success and I strongly believe in this.
No wonder why Subrato short-listed the three above as "High Performance Entrepreneurs", they really are.
Mr. Subrato and his Team
After the video, Surato started with his slides. His slides come as key points from his book - The High Performance Entrepreneur.
Here are few key take-aways from his slides:
- Of all entrepreneurial activities, less than 5% are likely to be High Performance Enterprises.
- High Performance Enterprise is not an Accident, it comes with dedication, hard work and paying attention to building your Vision.
- You will not get pushed into greatness, but you need to be pulled.
- "Love Money" - then only you can build your dream.
- During the 1st year of inception, organisations fail because of familiarity between the co-founders.
DNA - Who you are?
Mission - Where you are going?
Vision - Set of time-bound and measurable goals.
Values - Shared code of Conduct.
Key differentiations which MindTree has identified before they started - Domain, Tools, Methodology, Quality, Innovation and Branding.
Subrato feels that for any entrepreneurial activity, there will be key differentiators and these differentiators are like horses pulling the chariot. All of them have to move in the same direction, with the same speed and focus.
Message to Entrepreneurs - "Human being is looking for Danger and that is why you have taken this path. To overcome the danger, you will need to work towards having the ropes tight.
Entrepreneurship is like a marathon. In long distant running, you will need to accept and bare segmented pain.
Now, why did I write this here in my Social Entrepreneurship blog, because Entrepreneurship is Entrepreneurship, be it for a social cause or be it for any other motive. Entrepreneurship is realising your dreams and making them come true.
"Love for Money" - Yes, it is required in any kind of Entrepreneurship. As one of the MindTree Co-founders and CFO Rusto mentioned, you will need money to run your enterprise and also ensure it keeps running, realising your dreams.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Web NGO
BarCamp Bangalore 4 is happening on the 28/29 July 2007. During this event, the Bangalore Bloggers community is organizing a collective to work towards a common goal. I would be there along with other bloggers to speak on starting a Web NGO. I will post more information and working model after the event (trying not to be a spoil-sport ;) ). Please do be there or keep following this blog to get more updates and information regarding this project.
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