Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has developed an Information Technology (IT) tool to monitor and improve the health of rural Scheduled Caste (SC) communities in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. The IT Tool, developed using open source software, was deployed to gather detailed household-level annual health-related information.

This IT Tool was also utilised to make an objective assessment of the impact of medical treatment and dietary advice on priority health issues. This would lead to evolving an optimal rural healthcare plan based on treatment efficacy and expenses.

The project was implemented in E. Palaguttapalli SC and its adjoining hamlets, PakaJa Mandal and Pulicherla Mandal, in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, which have a population of around 100 Scheduled Caste (SC) households, each having 5-6 members.

In addition, the same team headed by Prof. C. Lakshmana Rao has developed ‘Grameen Ayurveda mobile application,’ an innovative Android-based smart manager of a person’s total health programme.

This application provides online doctor appointments, maintains patent data in digital form and it will help to track patient health status and treatment records. It takes care of the follow-up routine of patients, and patients are reminded for routine re-check if required.