Bengaluru’s civic body turns to AI to assist in mother-child care

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Health Department is now seeking the help of Artificial Intelligence to augment its maternal healthcare system. It has launched an AI-based pilot initiative called ‘SaveMom‘ to assist pregnant women, lactating mothers and infants in monitoring their health and ensuring safer deliveries, providing comprehensive 1000-day follow-up.

This innovative application provides a centralised information pool accessible to pregnant women, ASHA workers, medical officers, and doctors from private clinics and hospitals. It tracks symptoms, vital signs, health facility visits, and test results, among other data of pregnant women within the BBMP limits. By analysing this information, the system can also identify markers indicative of high-risk pregnancies.

Speaking to The Hindu, Suralkar Vikas Kishor, BBMP’s Special Commissioner for Health, shared how this turned into a healthcare platform for the BBMP. “I came to know of SaveMom a couple of months ago when I was watching a show that provides a platform for start-ups. SaveMom is run by a company called JioVio Healthcare. They already have an application that is being used across the country by various NGOs and governments to keep track of pregnancies. We have asked them to create a separate application and website with the BBMP to keep track of pregnant women within the BBMP limits.”

Complete tracking

Suralkar says in the existing platform provided by the Central government, pregnant women are identified by ASHA workers and have an initial interaction and basic data. Through SaveMom, ASHA workers will continue to do their work, but data will be more consistent and accessible.

“With the input given by these workers and the help of medical officers, details of pregnant and lactating mothers are tracked on the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal. However, all of this is being recorded only in one portal (RCH), which may not be easily accessible by all healthcare centres. But if the pregnant woman is registered on SaveMom, it will turn into a backup portal, which will be accessible to all health care centres when the woman provides her details,” he adds.

“There are instances where a woman, during the first few months of pregnancy, may have regular checkups at a BBMP public healthcare centre, but after a few months, if she decides to move to a private practitioner or hospital, the private centre fails to update her details on the RCH portal. This is when we lose track of her. However, through this application, both private and public healthcare centres within the BBMP limits will be asked to update findings and investigations on all carrying women who visit the centres. Which will eventually help the BBMP keep track of pregnant and lactating mothers,” he explains. 

Better mobility

Suralkar says if a woman conceives and is for most of her pregnancy in BBMP limits but chooses to move to a different city or State during the time of delivery, the BBMP will not be able to keep track of her well-being, but the pregnant woman will still have access to all her reports and details, which she can share with her new doctor or health care centre.  

If a pregnant woman feels uneasy, has discomfort, or suddenly goes into labour, she can use the platform to seek immediate medical assistance. Meanwhile, since the platform will keep track of the pregnancy from the start if it is observed to be at high risk, the BBMP will provide devices by SaveMom to track the pregnant woman’s basic parameters.

“These devices will be in the form of a bracelet or a necklace, which can be worn throughout and after pregnancy. Basic parameters that can be tracked without noninvasive methods, like blood pressure, heart rate and more, will be available through this device. Whenever there is a variation in these parameters, an alarm will ring, intimating the pregnant woman and those in her surroundings and the local medical officer,” he says.  

Post-pregnancy care 

Suralkar says that post-pregnancy, the platform will help keep track of the health of the mother and child. “Currently vaccination of infants is being recorded in a hard copy. The mother or family members may not be able to keep track of which vaccine has been given to the child, may not be educated enough to remember the names of vaccines or might lose the hard copy that has a record of all the vaccines given to the child. But through this application, it will be accessible from wherever the mother or child moves to, within or outside the BBMP limits,” he explains. If thorough data is entered into this application, it will also help the healthcare sector keep track of vaccinated infants who are yet to be vaccinated.  

“The ultimate aim of hospitals or health care workers is to make sure all pregnancies are safe and maximum vaccination during the initial life of the baby is achieved. SaveMom will not just help the BBMP keep track but will help both private and public health care centres achieve their goals,” says Suralkar. 

Privacy concerns

The initiative was started close to a month ago, and so far, the response to the platform has been good, but doctors and pregnant women have raised a few concerns.

“Doctors expressed concerns on patients raising privacy concerns, like where the data will be saved, how much personal information must be shared, who will be able to access it and more. We are working on privacy issues. Since we are still in the pilot stage, we are going to monitor this for another 6-9 months for us to know if this has helped or needs to be tweaked for the betterment of the mother and child,” said the special commissioner.