Idea 348 of 500. Cluster 17: Health, care and the parents of Sri Lankans abroad
A hospital directory for families, published
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
Every idea in cluster 17 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Pick one procedure families ask about, such as cataract surgery, and one district. Ask 20 families who have been through it which hospital they used, what it cost, how long they waited and what they would tell a friend, and write the answers up as a single page. Share it in a group for Sri Lankans abroad and ask whether people would pay for the same page on five more procedures.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad choosing a hospital for a parent's operation from the other side of the world, who would pay for outcomes rather than advertisements.
- What leaves today
- Families with money now send parents abroad for surgery or guess; published outcomes are the proof that keeps the operation, and the fee, on the island.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
Remittances and what it costs the first one to go - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions already in existence that could carry value back
More from cluster 17
- 341Home-care agencies with trained, vetted carers, booked and paid from abroad
- 342Assisted-living homes for the parents of Sri Lankans abroad, with the standard published and inspected
- 343A daily check-in service: a nurse's visit, a photograph, a message to the child abroad
- 344Medical escort services: a nurse takes the parent to the appointment and reports back
- 345Pharmacy delivery with the prescription managed and the refills tracked
- 346Dementia day-care centres, which hardly exist yet and are needed everywhere
Idea 348 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.