Indus Valley Times

The initiative aimed to leverage Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices to improve the quality and accuracy of maternal health monitoring and services to reduce MMR & IMR

By Nalini Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 18: JSP Foundation, the social arm of Jindal Steel & Power (JSP) joined its hand with Angul District Administration to launch Project SPARSA, a technology-driven initiative to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the district. Hon’ble Minister (Industries, MSEM and Energy) Shri Pratap Keshari Deb inaugurated the project on 15 August 2023. He handed over the Digital Diagnostic Kits to ANMs of 200 Health Sub Centres in the district.

Angul District Collector Shri Siddharth Shankar Swain, Superintendent of Police Shri Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, CDMO Angul Dr Trilochan Pradhan, President & Group Head (CSR) of Jindal Steel and Power Shri Prashant Hota and other senior officials of the district were present on occasion.

Inaugurating the project, Shri Deb appreciated Jindal Steel & Power Chairman Shri Naveen Jindal and JSP Foundation Chairman Smt. Shallu Jindal for partnering with the district administration for such an innovative programme in Angul District. He said that could be replicated in other parts of the State. Angul District Collector Shri Siddharth Shankar Swain, who played a crucial role in conceptualising this project, highlighted the various features of this project. Superintendent of Police Shri Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, CDMO Angul Dr Trilochan Pradhan extended their best wishes for the programme’s success.

Speaking on this occasion, JSP’s President and Group Head (CSR) Shri Hota said, “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”. 

The project involves providing Health Workers (females) with a kit of connected medical devices and training them 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.

JSP and JSP Foundation have introduced a range of developmental initiatives in the Angul district, aiming to enhance the well-being of the local population. Among these initiatives, Kishori Express, an innovative intervention targeting the reduction of anaemia among adolescent girls in the district, has garnered recognition and praise from various quarters.