Customized Cloud Based Online Remote Monitoring System
PHARMAGEN HEALTHCARE LIMITED
Pharmagen Healthcare limited is a public limited company which was set up in 2007 and is a subsidiary of Pharmagen Limited. In 2010 the prestigious Acumen Fund of USA partnered with PHL and is now an investee company of Acumen. Pharmagen Healthcare is the first ISO 9001:2000 certified and socially responsible health care company in Pakistan.
It is a strong addition to the Pharmagen Segments of companies focusing on providing a complete range of both curative and preventive healthcare facilities in particularly sub-urban / under privileged areas of Pakistan. Its aim is to improve the quality of life by providing quality medicines & quality drinking water to the rural population and low income groups of Pakistan.
Challenge
Water contamination is a major problem in Pakistan, where water supply lines and open sewer drains often lay side by side in the streets. This leads to chemical and bacterial contamination of drinking water which in turn causes major health hazards; 40% of illnesses in Pakistan are caused by water-borne diseases. While the bottled water industry has burgeoned in recent years, bottled water remains unaffordable for low-income customers.
Our client, Pharmagen HealthCare Limited, purifies and distributes safe drinking water through its chain of open water shops. Each shop extracts water from underground, purifies it through a reverse osmosis plant, and re-mineralizes it. Water quality is checked to WHO Standards. Water is affordably priced for low-income customers, who pay only 2.5 rupees per liter at water shops.
Pharmagen HealthCare Limited already had a network of 20 plus shops and planning to expand operations massively thus the challenge was to study the existing system and develop an IT driven system which automates operations for better performance and cost effectiveness.
Solution
Business Technologies team collaborated with client to overcome the operational challenges and developed a comprehensive solution comprising of both hardware and software components.
Business Technologies team identified the hardware requirements and ultimately helped the organization to procure the pre-requisite hardware from an overseas vendor. The hardware part comprised of RFID monitored water dispensing unit and GSM controller for data transmission while the software part constituted of cloud based online remote monitoring system which has ability to collect and manage quantitative water dispensing data of every water shop.
Smart cards were introduced to record and manage all monetary transactions. The use of smart cards for revenue collection ensured transparent and efficient recovery of funds. The functional model for card operation at Pharmagen Water Shops is very simple and designed keeping in mind the target audience.
The software part is a Cloud based Online Remote Monitoring System which collects all the water dispensing information from water shops and comprehends the information in both detailed and graphical formats. All the communication between the machines and the cloud based application is via telecom based SMS services.
The actual implementation has minimized the man-power requirement of the client by directly resulting in cost reduction and performance enhancement of entire operation. Furthermore this solution has enabled the client to expand its operations massively which will not only result in client organization’s growth but ultimately it will also have an impact on society as it will ensure the provision of affordable quality drinking water to poor and middle-class thus resulting in reduction of illnesses and deaths due to contaminated water.
