diff --git a/onadata/apps/main/tests/test_service_health.py b/onadata/apps/main/tests/test_service_health.py
index b9f1767df8..b97dc295f9 100644
--- a/onadata/apps/main/tests/test_service_health.py
+++ b/onadata/apps/main/tests/test_service_health.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import json
 from django.http import HttpRequest
-from django.db.utils import DatabaseError
-from mock import patch
+from django.test import override_settings
 
 from onadata.apps.main.tests.test_base import TestBase
 from onadata.apps.main.views import service_health
+import onadata
 
 
 class TestServiceHealthView(TestBase):
@@ -20,21 +20,26 @@ def test_service_health(self):
 
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEqual(
-            json.loads(resp.content.decode('utf-8')),
+            json.loads(resp.content.decode("utf-8")),
             {
-                'default-Database': 'OK',
-                'Cache-Service': 'OK'
-            })
+                "default-Database": "OK",
+                "Cache-Service": "OK",
+                "onadata-version": onadata.__version__,
+            },
+        )
 
-        with patch('onadata.apps.main.views.XForm') as xform_mock:
-            xform_mock.objects.using().first.side_effect = DatabaseError(
-                'Some database error')
-            resp = service_health(req)
+        sql_statement_with_error = "SELECT id FROM non_existent_table limit 1;"
 
+        with override_settings(CHECK_DB_SQL_STATEMENT=sql_statement_with_error):
+            resp = service_health(req)
             self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 500)
+            response_json = json.loads(resp.content.decode("utf-8"))
+            self.assertEqual(response_json["Cache-Service"], "OK")
+            self.assertEqual(response_json["onadata-version"], onadata.__version__)
             self.assertEqual(
-                json.loads(resp.content.decode('utf-8')),
-                {
-                    'default-Database': 'Degraded state; Some database error',
-                    'Cache-Service': 'OK'
-                })
+                response_json["default-Database"][:111],
+                (
+                    'Degraded state; relation "non_existent_table" does not exist'
+                    + f"\nLINE 1: {sql_statement_with_error}"
+                ),
+            )
diff --git a/onadata/apps/main/views.py b/onadata/apps/main/views.py
index 02b1c1531f..bf4e82cef5 100644
--- a/onadata/apps/main/views.py
+++ b/onadata/apps/main/views.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 from http import HTTPStatus
 
+from django.db import connections
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib import messages
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@
     set_profile_data,
 )
 from onadata.libs.utils.viewer_tools import get_enketo_urls, get_form
+import onadata
 
 # pylint: disable=invalid-name
 User = get_user_model()
@@ -1552,7 +1554,13 @@ def service_health(request):
     for database in getattr(settings, "DATABASES").keys():
         # pylint: disable=broad-except
         try:
-            XForm.objects.using(database).first()
+            with connections[database].cursor() as cursor:
+                fetch_first_xform_sql = (
+                    getattr(settings, "CHECK_DB_SQL_STATEMENT", None)
+                    or "SELECT id FROM logger_xform limit 1;"
+                )
+                cursor.execute(fetch_first_xform_sql)
+                cursor.fetchall()
         except Exception as e:
             service_statuses[f"{database}-Database"] = f"Degraded state; {e}"
             service_degraded = True
@@ -1569,6 +1577,11 @@ def service_health(request):
     else:
         service_statuses["Cache-Service"] = "OK"
 
+    if onadata.__version__:
+        service_statuses["onadata-version"] = onadata.__version__
+    else:
+        service_statuses["onadata-version"] = "Unable to find onadata version"
+
     return JsonResponse(
         service_statuses,
         status=HTTPStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR if service_degraded else HTTPStatus.OK,
@@ -1592,7 +1605,6 @@ def username_list(request):
 
 # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
 class OnaAuthorizationView(AuthorizationView):
-
     """
     Overrides the AuthorizationView provided by oauth2_provider
     and adds the user to the context