Vivek Singh

Health-Informatics-1

Our focus is on expanding access to and improving quality of healthcare in low resource settings, says Vivek Singh, Technical Principal, ThoughtWorks

ThoughtWorks Global Health partners with organisations that work to advance the cause of equity in health in the social and government sectors and that operate at all levels of the health system. A dedicated team of physicians, public health specialists, and technologists supports these clients through 34 offices worldwide. Our focus is on improving the quality of healthcare and expanding access to this care in low resource settings. We deliver technology solutions, tools, consulting and open source expertise to help clients empower workers in the field, deliver high quality facility-based care, and leverage system scale to improve outcomes.

We work in more than 30 countries with 3000 employees, providing technology services to enterprises and startups. We have been present in India for the last 13 years. However, beyond delivering services to Corporates, we believe that we have a responsibility towards society, which goes beyond creating employment and paying taxes. Social and economic justice is at the core of ThoughtWorks. We live in an unequal world and we cannot turn our eyes away from that reality. Many people face problems of hunger and lack of access to medical facilities. We believe that technology can help solve these problems.

Vivek Singh

Vivek Singh
Technical Principal, ThoughtWorks

We have partnered with Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS) in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. JSS is a voluntary, non-profit, registered society of health professionals running a lowcost health program in the rural areas of Chhattisgarh. For over 14 years, they have been providing healthcare services through a community health program in a rural health centre, which includes a 55-bed hospital. They operate village outreach centres in three other villages that are not easily accessible. The team at JSS researches ways to minimize the cost of healthcare in these settings and works to influence policy makers. They also advocate for the poor in various areas of public health. Patients at JSS typically wait one full week to see a doctor“ in spite of the outpatient department accommodating 300 patient visits per day, including emergency cases.

Evidently, we are in a society where the access to healthcare is difficult. Some of these places that need most help are so remote that even phone connections are not easily available. There have been great stories in Kerala and Tamilnadu, but there are still vast parts of the country which suffer from lack of access. We notice that solutions to these problems are coming in from organisations like JSS. Apart from just technical support to these doctors, NGOs and others who are working to alleviate social injustice in the country, ThoughtWorks has decided to work with them and use our skills to build solutions on the ground.

Some people might be skeptical about using technology in such settings. But this can be a really powerful tool. The technology is being deployed on the field where the real work happens. This can really empower the people on the ground. The data that this technology enables us with, helps us really figure out what the problems are that need to be focussed on. However, this is not easy. People need to understand and appreciate the use of this technology to ensure that the data collected is accurate. We also find that in a lot of situations, it is hard to convince doctors to start using this technology. The true value that technology provides can be unlocked only when we build solutions on the ground. We need to visit these places and learn about real life problems from organisations like Jan Swasthya Sahyog. By doing so, we can experience and understand problems from people first hand and deploy solutions that they trust and make them better at what they do.

Beyond delivering services to corporates, we have a responsibility towards society, which goes beyond creating employment and paying taxes

Health-Informatics-2

At ThoughtWorks, we do not create proprietary software, but build software using open source. Our goal is to create software that can be used by everybody to benefit Public Health. For instance, we are creating a suite of Public Health Systems, which includes solutions like shared health records. So, if a patient from a village in Tamil Nadu comes to the tertiary care or secondary care hospital, their health records are maintained on the system and can be used to treat them. However, we find that insufficient funds alone are not the issue when it comes to building such software. It is also a shortage of skills. Large technology companies which have the skill and money at their disposal should use this advantage that they have to create meaningful and empowering solutions.

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