Their front end essentially resembles the cold drinks/potato chips dispensers one sees at airports. What they will dispense, however, is free drugs based on a prescription — unless they refer the patient to a doctor. Five healthcare ATMs have come up in four states — MP, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh — under a Health Ministry pilot that combines telemedicine with a rudimentary free drugs programme.
The ministry is hoping these would tide over the massive shortage of doctors in the country and also the risks of pilferage that free drugs programmes are fraught with. Each ATM will be manned by a multipurpose public health worker (MPHW) or an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) armed with a multi-parameter patient vital monitor and other devices required for checking basic health parameters. After the patient has been registered, these indicators would be transmitted to a medical…
