ASHA 2.0: Barmer block’s healing touch on tablets

It’s all because of the newly acquired gadget,says Dr Vishnu Agrawal,medical officer in-charge of Jasol Primary Health Centre,where the pilot project was introduced last December. “Earlier,the ASHAs would forget to check some of the health indicators such as weight,haemoglobin and abdominal pain. The PC tablets have not only put everything in a format but these have also instilled confidence in the villagers,who trust the gadgets more than what they are told by the activists.”

Saraswati Prajapat,an ASHA sahyogini in Loharbasti village in Jasol,agrees. “When we handled over 10 pregnant women every day,we used to forget to tell them several important things. The PC tablet has changed all that. And we don’t have to carry bags full of registers now.”

Twenty-six ASHA sahyoginis equipped with PC tablets go around the villages of Jasol,Mewanagar,Tilwada,Sinli Jagir and Mungda in Barmer block now. Every woman under the project has been given a unique identity number for her records. These are stored in a central server at IIT-Jodhpur that helped design the software. The Health Department and UNICEF which had developed this initiative are now in the process of creating a central monitoring system to store all updates.

The gadgets have also empowered the ASHA sahyoginis,who do a host of other things on the gadgets. Jethee Devi of Sinli Jagir and Pepo Devi of Katwari village read morning news on the tablets. “We get our own recharge and put them to use when we are not at work. We read epapers and play games online. The women in the villages also join us and learn to operate the gadgets,” says Jethee Devi,adding that is an empowering tool for all of us. Her daughter too wants to grow up to be a health worker like her.

Varju Devi,Pepo Devi’s mother-in-law,is proud of her. “My daughter-in-law can work this gadget like a professional. Though she is just Class VIII pass,she is much smarter than most other women in the village,” she says.

However,the power supply in the village is proving to be a problem,with ASHA sahyoginis constantly worried about their gadgets running out of battery. Dela,whose village is yet to get a power connection,has to depend on a small solar panel to charge her tablet. “My brother used to cycle 10 km to get the tablet charged but now we’ve set up a small solar panel in our house. While mobile phones get charged quickly,the tablet takes much longer,” she says,adding that on rainy days even that is not possible.