Effective monitoring is crucial to the progress of any programme,
being the cornerstone of the process of plan review and modification.
To ensure accurate, intensive and well co-ordinated monitoring of
NLEP, the Computerized Management Information System (COMIS) was
developed in 1995. The system is being used to generate a data-base
on leprosy patients in DANLEP assisted areas.
Earlier, the absence of common software and output reports precluded
the use of a computer-based MIS to monitor the progress of individual
projects across the NLEP set-up. COMIS fulfilled the need for an
integrated management information system.
The microsystem caters to the data/reporting/information needs
of the field workers and supervisory staff.
It captures data at the point where it is generated (i.e.,
the patient cards), which ensures data reliability.
It uses simple reporting formats to provide pre-clinic information
and all records are maintained in a data-base.
With its focussed, patient-based information, it should improve
the quality of leprosy services.
The macrosystem facilitates data aggregation and is very useful for
programme managers at various levels. The data coming in from the
field units consists of monthly, biannual and annual reports. The
data is entered into the system at the district level, and is processed
for operational, clinical and epidemiological aggregation and analysis.
It is then transferred to the state and national levels, where it
is aggregated and used to prepare state and national level, and also
facilitates comparative analysis of districts and states. However,
COMIS was never adopted by the NLEP system for monitoring and evaluation.
On the contrary, it was implemented in the DANLEP supported districts
of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu, and data collected for the
period 1985 to 1999. This patient database has been used to generate
a multitude of leprosy indicators.
With the introduction of several extensive health care programmes
in the country, geographical mapping has become necessary to chart
the reach of a health delivery system. DANLEP was among the first
to develop a structured Geographical Information System (GIS) in
India when it attempted to map the MDT drug delivery points vis-a-vis
patient location in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
