IndiQuest and Advent announce the completion of Facility Survey 2007 commissioned by National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Assam
Company Press Release
May 2007
IndiQuest in association with Advent Healthcare Group has successfully completed the facility survey of all the primary health institutions in the state of Assam, commissioned by NRHM. The main objective of the facility survey was to assess the existing status of infrastructure, manpower, equipment, drugs, services and quality indicators in each healthcare facility as per the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms so as to identify the gaps for future planning.
The IndiQuest team led by Senior Project Manager - Prabir Chetia and Research Analyst - Som Ganguly, along with the Advent team were onsite for 3 months - planning and executing the entire program. Right from setting up the project office at Guwahati, field office at Golaghat and Silchar to recruiting, training, conducting survey and validating data captured - the team of 122 enumerators surveyed approximately 5435 centres which included 843 Public Health Centres and 4592 Subcentres.
Few key highlights of the facility survey:
- Based on the learnings from the pilot phase, the IPHS format of the pro-forma / questionnaire had to be customised considerably to suite the local requirements.
- Recruited approximately 5 to 9 natives from each of the 23 district and provided comprehensive training and guidance to conduct the survey. A total of 122 field surveyors were recruited for the purpose.
- Inspite of difficult law and order situation especially in upper Assam and hill districts, bandhs (general strike mostly called by political units), absenteeism of staff / respondents, torrential rains, inaccessibility / difficult terrain and National Games - the team has managed to visit and survey more than 5500 health centres within 2 months time (50 days approx).
- All the completed survey forms were validated by a team of experts based in the project and field offices to remove ambiguities and establish the correctness of the information.
- The survey captured approximately 1.7 million units of data.
Based on the facility survey questionnaire and the scope of responses, a data entry programme was developed by IT experts. The entire 1.7 million unit of data was then digitised and a structured database was created. Reports can be generated to view all the center details by facility types and also in a summarised format with aggregates and percentages.
The project was very challenging due to strict timelines and difficult ground situations, but the team has successfully managed to execute the assignment to best of its ability and satisfaction of the client.
About IndiQuest
IndiQuest provides cutting edge research, analyses and consultancy services to clients across various industries. Established in 1999, it was formerly known as Business Information Group (BIG) and functioned as a captive research and knowledge unit exploring business opportunities for Agilisys and its group companies. In 2005 BIG was spun off into an independent business entity and renamed as IndiQuest. It has been actively funded by ND Investments and is a fully-owned subsidiary of Agilisys Ltd. Headquartered in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has its marketing and sales division in India and the UK.
About Advent Healthcare
Advent is a healthcare facilitation company (since 1998) with services ranging from strategy consulting to managing and operating health services. Advent combines best business and management practices with healthcare domain expertise for developing innovative and sustainable health delivery models. Advent is based in Delhi and has a strong presence in other parts of India and Asia with a strong partner network.
About NRHM
The National Rural Health Mission seeks to provide effective healthcare to rural population throughout the country with special focus on 18 states, which have weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. The Mission is to be implemented over a period of seven years (2005- 2012). The Mission is an articulation of the commitment of the Government to raise public spending on Health from 0.9 percent of GDP to 2-3percent of GDP. The Goal of the Mission is to improve the availability of and access to quality health care by people, especially for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women and children.