Bhutan health help centre

A pregnant woman in Tongla village in Khenghar Mongar had retained the placenta after delivery. The health assistant, who was in the village, a two-hour walk uphill from the nearest road, dialed 112.

By the time she reached the road head, an ambulance was waiting for her and whisked her off to Mongar hospital. “We could have lost her if it hadn’t been for this service,” the health ministry’s director general Dr Dorji Wangchuk said.

Even as the health help centre (HHC) was formally launched yesterday, the centre in Thimphu was buzzing with calls from remote Bhutan.

A bull had gored a man in Lhuentse, while another call was about a woman, who was having labour pain in Bumthang. Ambulances were dispatched immediately to bring them to the nearest health facility.

Riding on information technology (IT), access to health services across the country is now just a phone call away.

Dial 112, a toll free number for emergencies, advice, and information and for an ambulance if the patient needs to be taken to a doctor.

This facility, health officials said, has now bridged the gap of accessibility and optimised the services of medical professionals, which has been difficult given the terrain and doctor shortage. Statistics show that 40 percent of the population is still an hours walk away from the nearest health center.

“The more free health care services you provide, the more inequality you create; because, while the literate make the most of it, the poor and illiterate are unable to access it,” health minister Zangley Dukpa said at the launch yesterday. “This is one of the reasons why we’re launching the ICT enabled health care service through the health help centre.”

The HHC regulates 61 ambulances stationed in 37 locations in hospitals, with 59 emergency medical technicians (EMT) posted across the country, the centre’s chief executive officer Dr NB Rai said.

Its nationwide service kicked off informally on April 4 and has since then served 2,497 cases to date. Of these, 291 were referrals between hospitals and 544 were emergencies the centre handled from all districts, except Gasa, Dr NB Rai said.

The centre also received 589 cases of healthcare management services where callers were advised, counselled and given e-prescription through SMS. The emergency physician saw 35 cases.

Prank calls have been an issue since operations started. Between February 5 and May 1, the centre recorded 6,895 prank calls, almost thrice the number of “valid” 2,479 emergency calls. On an average, the centre receives about 70 valid calls everyday.

“We even get calls from people asking for momos,” Dr NB Rai said.

Once, the centre received a call from a man who was panicking because his wife was about to deliver. “We sent an ambulance immediately with a EMT and later learnt that it was another man, who was mimicking a woman in labour pain,” he said.

In another case, the centre sent an ambulance to Hontsho only to find no one there and the cell phone switched off. “It’s shameful,” Dr Sudhakar from ProCreate techno systems, one of the consultants from India, said.

The system has back up servers and will run even during power failures, explained the consultants. Chief executive officer of Orange business services in India, Bala Mahadevan, said it is run on a very advanced system that can be scaled up according to the calls the centre receives.

An initiative under the accelerating Bhutan’s socio economic development program, the HHC is set up and operationalised at the cost of Nu 34M in nine months by a consortium of Regal information technology, Thimphu, Equant technology services and ProCreate techno systems, India.

Officials said 25 people could call the centre that is manned by 15 people and two doctors. HCC’s focal person, Gaki said data generated from the center could also be used for evidence based planning.

“The need for a specialised service provider will be optimised and with IT you save costs and provide faster and quality services,” health secretary Dasho (Dr) Gado Tshering said.

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutan health ministry has signed a contractual agreement with India

The health ministry has signed a contractual agreement with a consortium of Bhutanese and Indian technology companies to improve healthcare service delivery by setting up a health help centre (HHC).

The HHC is an initiative, under the accelerating Bhutan’s socio-economic development program, through specific initiatives, like the healthcare helpline and emergency response system, as detailed in the performance compact signed with the prime minister in December 2009.
With the healthcare helpline, the ministry claims that patients could call a toll free number twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week to seek medication, counselling, public health information and other associated helpline. “In case of complications, a patient shall be directed to the nearest health facility adequately equipped and having capacity to attend the patient immediately,” states a press release from the ministry.

As a part of the emergency response system, patients in emergency could call a toll free 24X7 and request an ambulance at the location of the incident. The nearest ambulance would then be dispatched to the location to pick up the patient, according to the press release. “The health facility would also be intimated of the patient’s arrival, so that they are prepared to handle the case.”

Both the initiatives are to be launched by December 17.

The consortium comprise of the Regal information technology in Thimphu, Equant technology services pvt ltd and Procreate techno systems pvt ltd, both Indian companies.

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutan people gathered for voter photo identity card

A 40-year old man from Paro emerged out of a crowd gathered at the royal academy of performing arts (RAPA) hall, rubbing his eyes that had turned red from being exposed to dust.

He said he had been waiting since April 19 to collect his voter photo identity card.

“They stopped issuing the cards after 5pm, least considerate of those of us, who waited since morning the first day,” he said yesterday. “I’m giving up. There’s no point. I’ve waited until lunch today.”

A young man from Trashigang, working with a corporate firm, claimed to have waited since 7am yesterday, only to find a long queue already formed in front of the door to the hall.

“It took me more than five hours to get my card,” he said seeming rather satisfied, adding there was no point in standing in a queue, when everyone else broke line. “You have to jostle and sharp-elbow those around you.”

In the process, a woman from Trashigang living in Thimphu said that some men were almost bound for fisticuffs.

A woman was taken to hospital, following a stampede in their struggle to get in front of the queue, although medical officials at the emergency ward said she suffered no major injuries and was sent home following a brief examination.

At the Motithang school hall, where another crowd of Thimphu residents had gathered to collect their voter cards, police officials shoved a few people back into the crowd, as they tried to force open the door.

To save people all that hassle, the police their curses and the election commission officials the strain, many in the crowd suggested that commission officials should have provided at least a week to collect the cards.

A civil servant, who left after a brief scan of the crowd, said authorities should not complain of a lukewarm response during elections later, if they made the process towards it so unfavourable.

“What’s the purpose of a voter card in the first place when we have identity cards,” she said. “Isn’t that good enough to identify our eligibility to vote.”

A businessman suggested the authority should have divided the two days into couple of hours for people of different dzongkhags depending on sizes.

“What they’re doing isn’t service to the people but an attempt to show the authorities higher up that they’re doing something,” he said.

His friend, working with an autonomous agency, said that, despite taking two days leave from the office, he was unable to fetch his voter card.

“It’s a wastage of time,” he said.

On the issue of providing more time, commission’s deputy chief electoral registration officer Sonam Tobgyel explained that they had decided on the two-day collection time from the feedback they had garnered following the general elections.

“Give them a few days or a week, they’ll still rush at the last moment,” he said, adding the cards would be distributed to each household in every chiwog.

“They have to go to their villages to vote anyway and their voter cards will be there,” Sonam Tobgyel said. “It’s for these reasons we can’t hold the cards here for more than two days.”

He also said the commission officials spent at least 12 hours a day trying distributing the voter cards to Thimphu residents from other parts of the country.

Sonam Tobgyel agreed that, while the citizen identity card would also do, he said they were mandated by their act to distribute voter cards.

“The voter card contains in detail the polling stations and the constituency of a voter,” he said.

The two-day voter card distribution for 17 dzongkhags ended yesterday, and they will be sent to their respective dzongkhags.

Voter card distribution for three dzongkhags of Punakha, Trongsa and Trashiyangtse has already been completed.

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutan and Nepal will resume talks

Bhutan and Nepal will resume talks on the issue of the people in the camps in Nepal, said Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley at Paro airport yesterday. Lyonchhoen was returning after a six-day trip to Nepal and Afghanistan. He visited the two countries in his capacity as the current chairperson of SAARC.

Talks between Bhutan and Nepal on the issue of the people in the camps were suspended in 2003, when members of the Bhutanese joint verification team were attacked by a mob at one of the camps located in eastern Nepal. Until then, 15 ministerial-level talks had been held.

While in Nepal, Lyonchhoen also insisted that the Nepalese government work on the compensation for the Tara Air crash victims’ families. Eighteen Bhutanese were killed, when their plane crashed in Nepal last December.

Lyonchhoen and the Nepalese prime minister, Jhala Nath Khanal, discussed strengthening and deepening relations between the two countries. They agreed to renew a trade agreement to boost bilateral trade. They also agreed to renew and revise a bilateral air services agreement, which could see national airline Drukair operating between Bagdogra, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.

As the current chairperson of SAARC, Lyonchhoen was following up on the implementation of measures reached during the 16th SAARC summit here in Thimphu.

During the three-day visit to Afghanistan, Lyonchhoen met with President Hamid Karzai and with First Vice President Marshall Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Second Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili.

He said that President Karzai’s trip to Bhutan and his visit to Kabul have enabled the two countries to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations, have a deeper understanding of each other, to work together.

The prime minister was accompanied by the economic affairs minister and minister-in-charge of foreign affairs, Khandu Wangchuk, ambassador of Bhutan to Nepal and officials from the prime minister’s office and foreign ministry.

He described the visit as one that “was committed to deepen and strengthen relations of Bhutan with both Nepal and Afghanistan.”

Source: Kuenselonline

Knock-out Round Starts

In the last round of the pre-quarters for the street football at Changlimithang in Thimphu, CCFC defeated Young Stellers 2-1 goals and Atsara defeated ILCS 4-3 yesterday.

SK defeated Cypress FC by five goals, while its opponent team lost by two goals. Drukpa also scored four goals against BoB, who lost by one goal. YHSS wiil play against Ravengers, Gunners against SK Utd, CCFC will take on Atsara and Drukpa on Norling today in the first knock-out round of the first street football tournament

Source: Kuenselonline