Dr K and Dr R have been working with an NGO in one of India’s states in a 4 year investigation using new interactive systems to deliver health advice and care in a remote rural district. After a year of intense discussions, the project is exploring ways of supporting remote health consultations and advice through electronic links to a health centre in the main town of the block, and (if required) linking to medical advisors in the district capital and other major cities of the state. In discussing the alternative solutions, Dr K & Dr R are interested in using an approach based on high-end smartphones, that they think represents a significant advance in research. They reason that, although the phones & services are too expensive at present to be sustainable, the solution they devise could be sustainable in about 5 years time as the price of handsets and services decreases. On the other hand, the NGO is interested in a solution that makes use of the ‘Common Service Centres’ that the Indian federal government is rolling out across the country. These CSCs will provide internet access points in every panchayat. The NGO is aware of other similar projects that have used a similar approach, and would like to base their local solution on ‘tried & tested’ approaches. However, Dr K & Dr R are worried that implementing this solution would not be aligned with the objectives agreed with their research funder.
- What should Dr K & R do?
- How should they view the balance of ‘innovative research’ and ‘change delivery’ aspects of their project?
- What are the ethics, roles & relationships relevant to this situation?
- What other questions do we need to ask about this scenario?
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