Thursday 24 November 2016

India To Become The World Leader in Digital Health

In May this year, India had tabled a resolution at WHO for mHealth, which was supported by over 30 nations. This clearly signals India's intent to be a global leader in Digital Health.

Digital Health has the potential to revolutionize how populations interact with national health services and also strengthen health systems. India is now embarking on a futuristic journey to bridge the healthcare divide between have’s and have-nots using digital health tools. We have a number of projects that will extensively deploy technology.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has been taking several impactful initiatives in the field of Digital Health. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has envisioned for Digital Platform & Electronic Health to be optimally leveraged so as to meet the key challenges posed to us in health sector e.g. shortage of health human resource, accessibility of healthcare infrastructure, affordability of healthcare services etc. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of citizens are envisaged to be created for ensuring continuity of care and other associated benefits. Delivery of services to citizens through “online mode” is at core of the overall electronic health ecosystem being talked about.

Major I.T. initiatives by Ministry include various mHealth initiatives for improving efficiency and efficacy of public healthcare across the country under the Digita India Programme. For example, the Vaccine Tracker mobile application support parents in tracking immunization status of their children and helps them in ensuring complete and timely vaccination. The India Fights Dengue mobile application provides interactive information on identification of symptoms of Dengue and links users to nearest hospitals and blood banks The Swasth Bharat (Health India) mobile application provides detailed information on healthy lifestyle, disease conditions and their symptoms, treatment options, first aid and public health alerts. Through our Kilkari mobile app initiative, we are sending audio messages about pregnancy, child birth and child care directly to families and parents. A mobile based audio training course has been developed for expanding the knowledge of our village based voluntary health workforce. Our other mHealth initiatives include National Health Portal, Online Registration System, E-Rakt Kosh, ANM Online (ANMOL), telemedicine projects (in remote & inaccessible areas), Tobacco Cessation Programme and leveraging mobile phones for reaching patients of Tuberculosis. Soon the Ministry will launch the Stress management app.

These initiatives are ensuing remarkable improvement in healthcare delivery and management. For example Online Registration System (ORS) for public hospitals, launched in July 2015, has been able to bring about a significant change in the patient registration and appointment system and as a result patients now don’t need to wait at hospitals for taking appointments. As on date all AIIMS, most of the central government hospitals and many state government hospitals are linked through ORS.


Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

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