Angul: JSP Foundation, the social arm of Jindal Steel & Power (JSP), joined hands with Angul district administration to launch Project SPARSA — a technology-driven initiative to reduce infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR).
Inaugurating the project on August 15, Odisha’s minister for Industries, MSEM and Energy Pratap Keshari Deb handed over Digital Diagnostic Kits to ANMs of 200 health sub-centres in the district.
Angul district collector Siddharth Shankar Swain, SP Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, CDMO Angul Dr Trilochan Pradhan, President & Group Head (CSR) of Jindal Steel and Power Prashant Hota and other senior officials of the district were present on occasion.
The minister appreciated Jindal Steel & Power Chairman Naveen Jindal and JSP Foundation Chairman Shallu Jindal for partnering with the district administration for such an innovative programme in Angul district, and said that it could be replicated in other parts of Odisha.
The district collector, who played a crucial role in conceptualising this project, highlighted various features of this project.
“This initiative is aimed at empowering and training grassroot health workers to combat high-risk pregnancies and support lactating mothers in Angul district. We are leveraging digital technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve the quality of life of people. We hope this project will help ensure safe motherhood by identifying high-risk pregnancies and facilitating their treatment,” said Hota.
Female health workers, provided with a kit of connected medical devices, are trained to use these to conduct diagnoses of pregnant women during their regular visits. The kit contains a digital weighing scale, digital blood pressure, digital haemoglobin meter, digital glucometer, foetal heart rate monitor and urine dipstick testing materials.
All these diagnostic equipment are connected to the mobile phone through Bluetooth. The data collected will be captured via a mobile app and updated in a central database in real time.
