Mangaluru: “IT sector is now transforming the Health sector with an aim of taking the health sector to another level where citizens and concerned authority can address the issues effectively” said U T Khader, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Karnataka.
He was speaking after launching the India’s first ever Malaria Software in MCC council hall on October 17.
“Mangalore is No.1 in many aspects. Earlier other nations had doubted India as to whether or not polio eradication which was termed possible actually was. But after 20 years of implementation of continuous drives by the central and state government, India is moving to become a polio free nation by 2020. Similarly, the launch of the Malaria software is the first in India; Mangalore City should become Malaria free city within the next 3-4 years and prove to the entire nation and world that the Smart People of Mangaluru use smart methods to prevent communicable diseases”, he said.
He went on to say that Dakshina Kannada district has reported 4023 Malaria cases so far, and as suggested by foreign expert teams, mapping and source destruction of Malaria has to be taken up first, and then, making use of the new software, the concerned departments should take further steps to prevent malaria from spreading.
“Mangaluru is termed as Health city as we have super and multi specialty hospitals wherein patients from different places come for treatment. Now, we need to make Mangaluru the ‘Healthy’ city by eradicating these communicable diseases. There is more scope for medical tourism in Mangaluru, and we should become a shelter for poorer countries by providing affordable and best medical services” he added.
KMC Peadatrics Professor Dr Shantharam Baliga, Mangaluru Medical Relief Society MD Dr K R Shetty, Karnataka Bank Pvt Ltd GM Shri Raghuram, Dikishit Rai of Code Craft Technology, Narayan of iPoint Consultancy, Former Mayor Mahabala Marla and Environment Engineer Manu Kumar were felicitated for their support in developing the software.
Speaking at the occasion Dr Shantharam Baliga said, “There is no accountability and no transparency in the system which has lead to the failure of various health schemes started by the government”.
“Smart city cannot make smart people, but smart people can make a smart city, and if technology is used in a proper way. The burden of the disease can be decreased by using the technology which will result in behavior modification and this will ultimately result in accountability and transparency.
The Malaira Prevention Software was developed in about 8 months with a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model wherein an NGO, two Banks (Corporation and Karnataka Bank) and two Government Departments (MCC and Health Dept.) got together to develop and implement the software.
Manu Kumar, Environment Engineer briefed the gathering on the unique features and usage of new software.
Karnataka Bank Pvt Ltd GM Shri Raghuram handed over 50 tabs worth Rs 5 lakh to MCC Mayor which was then distributed to the field workers. A hand book on Malaria was unveiled by J R Lobo, MLA Mangaluru South Constituency.
Mangalore North MLA Moidin Bawa, Shashidar Hegde, Sudhir Shetty, Prakash Salian and others were present.
