Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

The E Health Point concept builds upon and combines proven models to achieve unique synergies and efficiencies that have the potential to transform rural healthcare and improve wellness, productivity, and quality of life. The model include:

• Tele-medical Consultation at an E Health Point with licensed medical doctors and trained lay healthworkers, conducted via video-conferencing from HSI’s urban tele-medical center. The cost of this service is about Rs 20 ($ 0.40) per consultation. The doctors are engaged from local areas (for linguistic familiarity) and are specially trained in providing telemedical consultations and identify cases that may require referral for advanced treatment.
• Medicines are dispensed at each E Health Point by a licensed pharmacist. The pharmacy stocks primarily branded generics medicines as well as a range of OTC drugs at modest cost to patients. The price discounts are up to 50% of the list prices.
• Advanced Diagnostic Tools measure patients' vital signs and offer more than 70 additional diagnostic tests. EHP sources its diagnostic material from reputed sources and also has an excellent quality audit system instituted to assure quality to the customer. Most of the diagnostics tests are provided at high discounts compared to the prices charged in the nearest towns/cities. EHP has recently introduced several mobile diagnostic tools which have given a higher degree of convenience to customers. The average cost per test of the most common tests is Rs 30 ($0.60).
• Water Treatment via advanced Reverse Osmosis units, provided in partnership with the Naandi Foundation; Naandi is India’s leading non-governmental rural water treatment provider, with 800 units serving 3 million people daily already in operation. E Health Points provide clean drinking and cooking water on a monthly subscription basis. Subscription fee for a household is Rs 75 ($1.5) per month, This assures the household of 20 liters of clean drinking water on a daily basis; this is often equivalent to about half-day wage in rural settings in India.

Social Impact – EHP provides underserved rural and peri-urban communities with greater access to high quality health-care and safe drinking water services resulting in better health and well-being, enhanced productivity and improved standard of living. The model also provides multiple opportunities for employment generation in the local areas.
Sustainability – EHP is a sustainable social business enterprise with high degree of economic returns for the beneficiary communities. The EHP social business enterprise model has high potential for being replicable and scalable and thereby qualifies to be of immense value and interest to public sector organizations, corporate social responsibility organizations, social investors and mainstream venture investors and financial institutions.
Innovation – The EHP Social business enterprise effectively combines and leverages benefits of the existing and emerging technologies in the Health, Water & ICT domains with an objective to enhance affordability and quality in its products and services offerings.

Partnering with the local government, HealthPoint Services is now ready to scale its operations in India as well as implement the model in additional countries.

Additional Information

• Punjab Newsline:Punjab Governor launches e-health project in Malwa region

• Innovative Health Pilot Launched in Rural India by Ashoka and Partners

• Al Hammond Shares the Latest in Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Innovations