It connects to the Internet hourly via a dial-up UUCP account with a local commercial Internet service provider. We regularly procure and update valuable information from Internet, viz. ProMed, EDrug, MedPulse, Medscape, and SIM, etc. Users are assisted to retrieve medical journals. Bicycle messengers or couriers are used to carry messages to and from distribution centers.
Individual users render services to their friends and colleagues.
This unique system has created a backbone for the distribution of national public health information, and hundreds of professionals and medical students not owning personal computers or telephones are able to benefit. Our computer course has so far trained few hundred doctors and medical students in 6 essential computer applications. In the absence of other non-profit, academic, professional, or Government networks, several commercial online access providers are aggressively trying to capture the market. They are attracting users looking for entertainment, online chat, etc. We are also offering free connections to the Computer Training Centers in districts and rural towns for distribution of health information.