Utilization and challenges of ‘Swasthya Ingit’ services faced in a district of West Bengal, India: a mixed methods approach

Abstract

Background: “Telemedicine” is used to provide accessible, quality healthcare to distant people. Globally and also in India, telemedicine was implemented and accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In West Bengal, telemedicine is known as “Swasthya Ingit.” The purpose of the study was to find out the utilization of Swasthya Ingit and to explore challenges faced by community health officers (CHO) and medical officers during consultation in a hub of South 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Materials and Methods: A descriptive record-based, cross-sectional approach with convergent parallel mixed methods was undertaken for 3 months (May–July 2023). A total of 6,775 consultations with Swasthya Ingit was used for quantitative purpose. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2019 by suitable descriptive statistics. An in-depth interview was conducted for the qualitative strand, and the data were analyzed thematically. Results: A total of 6,775 Teleconsultations were given, of which 76% were utilized by South 24 Parganas district. The maximum consultation was provided to the Baruipur block. Of the attended patients, 71% were female, 73% were adults, and 37% suffered from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). During the consultation, CHO identified network issues, overburden, lack of workforce resources, and target achievement. Conclusion: Most of the population of South 24 Parganas utilized teleconsultation for NCDs. Lifestyle modification is necessary, along with medication, to combat the then-on-communicable disease burden. The thematic analysis revealed challenges faced by CHO—CHO overburdened with work, weak network issues, pressure of target achievement, and lack of workforce and resources.

Keywords

• medicine
• teleconsultation
• telemedicine
• utilization