HOW CSC IS TRANSFORMING DUNDI VILLAGE IN MADHYA PRADESH
An elderly woman, Ruksana Begum, resident of Dundi village in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, has been suffering from severe throat infection since past few months. She consulted many doctors in Jabalpur, spent thousands of rupees in various tests and medicines, but didn’t get any relief. The 72 years old lady had lost all hopes of getting cured as no doctor could diagnose her disease appropriately. One day, she came in contact with VLE Arun Lodhi, who runs a CSC in the village Dundi. Considering her critical condition, the VLE informed her about the telemedicine service provided at his CSC. VLE Arun helped Ruksana consult a female Homeopathic doctor through video-conferencing, explaining her problem in detail and getting medicines prescribed. The VLE provided printout of prescription and helped the patient buy medicines from nearest medical store. Ruksana Begum recovered completely after taking the medicines prescribed by the doctor. Now she is happy that she has got relief from unbearable pain.
There are 300 families in this village and at least one member from each family has been benefited under CSC tele-consultation program. Most of them have been treated successfully after consultation with doctors. Senior citizens and bed-ridden patients who are unable to travel to hospitals in cities are getting benefited from the service.
CSC Telemedicine is changing the way patients in rural India think about receiving healthcare. These underserved areas often lack access to healthcare centers, including primary care facilities. Additionally, patients may not have means to travel long distances to get the care they need. Fortunately, Digital Doctors like Arun Lodhi are diminishing some of these barriers by giving patients the means to correspond with healthcare professionals in real-time, including live audio/video and remote patient monitoring.
After completing Graduation in year 2015, 24 years old Arun Lodhi, who hails from an OBC family of Dundi village, in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, decided to work for the villagers of his locality, who always face huge problems in fulfilling their basic needs. He started his CSC centre in the year 2016 and offered various G2C services to the communities. Despite problem of connectivity and backwardness of the area, this young entrepreneur never gave up, and he successfully provided all the online services like PMGDISHA (Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan), DigiPay, Tele Law, Tele Medicine, Income certificate, Caste Certificate etc, PAN Card, Passport services, LED, Ticket Booking, Banking, PMSYM etc. His commitment towards society has transformed the lives of thousands of people in Jabalpur, empowered them to become self-reliant. The VLE is actively participating in Economic census survey of citizens in his village. Recently, for the Economic Survey of Magradha village, his team crossed river through a boat and completed the survey work.
As a hardworking VLE he is trying his best to achieve the goals of Digital India programme in Silpuri, Lahsar, Mahgaon, Dunga, Kuteli Umriya, Bamhani Midki areas of Jabalpur by providing various digital services to citizens in all of these villages. Presently his monthly income is around Rs. 35,000. Through his CSC center, he also assists divyangs, poor people from minority communities on how to get self-employed.
VLE’s work in DigiPay and PMGDISHA has been phenomenal. Every day around 200 villagers visit his CSC centre to avail various services; mainly: farmers, labourers, old age pensioners, small merchants who lack banking facilities, often approach him for their day to day transactions. His per day transaction in DigiPay is Rs 1 lakh.
Through PMGDISHA, the VLE has trained more than 400 people in which 350 are certified candidates. He makes door- to -door visit in his area for motivating and mobilizing beneficiaries under PMGDISHA. The VLE travels in his locality and visits tuition centers as well as schools to spread awareness about the scheme.
The VLE says: “Working as a VLE has changed my life in a significant way. It has provided me a platform to cater my family needs and also earn enough to sustain my family. It has also helped me in gaining respect and recognition in the society.”
He adds: “The quality of services in CSC has transformed the lives of people in Jabalpur immensely. Besides that, the villagers have benefitted from their initiatives as they are provided with services at their doorsteps at a reasonable cost, especially in Digital Literacy and Healthcare in Telemedicine for illiterate, poor and senior citizens. Arun says, “I feel great satisfaction on seeing happiness on the face of villagers who come to my Digital India centre. It is such a great platform by which one can earn money respect.” Overcoming all challenges, VLE Arun Lodha has emerged as a role model for everyone by empowering villagers through technology.
