As part of the government’s efforts to rejuvenate health infrastructure, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the first health ATM today in Gorakhpur. The ATM will be installed at the Chargawan Community Health Centre (CHC).

In a bid to provide people with better medical and diagnostic facilities, the state is making government hospitals hi-tech on a war footing, according to a government official, the Times of India reported. Setting up health ATMs is a new start in this regard, the official added.

The government has prepared an action plan which includes setting up health ATMs in 23 government hospitals in Gorakhpur, including the district hospital, women’s hospital and 21 CHC-PHC.

The official claimed that at the health ATMs, as many as 59 tests of a patient could be conducted from a single sample to detect serious diseases. The district has been allotted 5 of the total 10 machines assigned in the initial stage.

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What is a health ATM?

Health ATMs are machines, which can carry out pathological tests, dispense medicines free of cost and also help patients interact with doctors remotely.

The body of the patient can be screened by the health ATM to check weight, height, blood pressure, blood glucose, body temperature and oxygen saturation levels.

The walk-in medical kiosks also have integrated medical devices to conduct basic cardiology, neurology, pulmonary and gynaecology tests. They are staffed by a medical attendant.

Last year, while chairing a high-level COVID-19 review meeting, CM Yogi Adityanath instructed the health department to chalk out a pragmatic action plan to install health ATMs in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. The CM had also asked the health authorities to ensure that technicians were trained to expedite the process of setting up these ATMs.

What are the benefits?

Apart from conducting tests and dispensing free medicines, the machines also maintain records of registered patients, including their lab reports. Patients can access these reports anytime using a web dashboard, email or a mobile app. It will also help doctors to check and access the patient’s past health records during a video call.

“The biggest benefit of Health ATMs is that it is a cloud-connected platform that enables telemedicine so that a good doctor can see patients in rural areas. Meanwhile, paramedics can be trained to use this simple machine for performing diagnostic tests,” The Times of India quoted Premjeet Kumar, CEO of Yolohealth, as saying.

Yolohealth, Mumbai headquartered health-tech company, is supplying ATMs to the UP government. Yolohealth had already installed 400 health ATMs across India by July 2021. It has set up kiosks in Mumbai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Indore, Saharsa and Changlang district hospital in Arunachal Pradesh.

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(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)