Information Dissemination Challenge

Rohit and I were discussing about a situation where information dissemination is critical. The idea is to have a counseling service in general (the broad theme) and to disseminate health information in particular. Let me narrate to you the exact situation which we faced. At 11 pm in the night, I got a call asking about an hospital in Lucknow (or a private doctor) for emergency care of a student (she studies in Kanpur in a school run by the NGO Jagriti) who was diagnosed to have a stone in her pancreas. The doctor in Kanpur (of Abhishekh Hospital) concluded that the case is critical and expressed his inability to treat further (after he had been prescribed saline and glucose drips + general antibiotics + pain killers for two days. The immediate thing we did was to think about any acquaintances in Lucknow and to call them and ask for information about doctors/timings/who is good or who is bad.

After this incident, it came to my mind that in this world, most of our time is spent in acquiring information and information really is power. There could be a case where the girl & her family would not be knowing anybody who could tell about the doctors in Lucknow. What about a situation where in we wish to know that which is the nearest hospital in our locality and what are the timings? Also, there could be cases where in we need quantitative information e.g which hospital in Bangalore is the best in Gastroenterology? Which doctor would be good for a bone marrow transplant? Which is a good as well as an affordable hospital?

Another thing that disturbs me is the lack of a streamlined way of accessing information e.g there are far too many websites for blood donation in emergencies but just because of the sheer number of players, one doesn't know who to contact when exactly one is in need. If we put ourselves in somebody's shoes who has to look for medical care of his family members, it appears that there are lot of avenues where people can be assisted. Mostly, they need information rather than anything else. How do we provide the information to them is a challenge. Additionally, if we can somehow use technology for streamlining organ donation, we can really make a change. There are lakhs of people wanting kidneys, corneas, lungs, bone marrows. How to do this is a challenge to me. I wrote all this because if you have any idea regarding how all this can be done, please tell.

Can we do anything about it is the fundamental question.