Mobile phone consultation for community health care in rural north India

Abstract

We conducted a study to ascertain the acceptability and feasibility of consultation by mobile phone in a rural area of northern India. The mobile phone number of a community physician was advertised to the general public and people were invited to telephone at any time for a medical consultation. Details of the calls received were recorded. During a seven-month study, 660 calls were received. The mean call duration was 2.7 min. Eighty percent of calls were made by men. Forty-eight percent of calls were made during office hours. A total of 417 (63%) calls were for seeking advice, 146 (22%) were for outpatient follow-up, 23 (4%) were for seeking appointments and the remaining 74 (11%) for other reasons. The most common problems were skin, respiratory, mental health and sexual problems. Of the 387 callers who were interviewed at follow-up, 302 (78%) stated that they had followed the advice provided. Of these, 91% found the advice very helpful in managing their health problems. About 96% of users wished to continue to use the service in future. The majority of calls made were of a primary care nature which could easily be dealt with by phone. The concept of using mobile phones for medical consultation seemed to be acceptable to people in rural Haryana.