Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday chaired a high-level meeting to assess the progress of Delhi's Health Information Management System (HIMS) and instructed departments to distribute e-health cards to Delhiites by next year, officials said.
An e-health card will contain the entire medical history of the card-holder and people will be able to get treated at any hospital, which is connected to the HIMS system. One will not be required to carry medical reports and documents if they have this card, the officials said.
Mr Kejriwal chaired the high-level meeting to assess the progress of HIMS e-health card project.
"It was decided in the meeting that along with the implementation of HIMS in the year 2023, health cards would also be given to every Delhiite," according to a statement issued by the Delhi Chief Minister Office.
The chief minister has specifically instructed the departments concerned to distribute the e-Health Cards at least three months before the HIMS system is implemented. It is expected to begin from March 2023, it said. "The HIMS aims to revolutionise healthcare management in the state by taking it to global standards. A project of this scale and calibre has never been taken up in India. Notably, the e-Health Cards too, will be the first of their kind in the country where all medical information of the patient will be stored on the cloud," it said.
In the meeting held at the Delhi Secretariat, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain were also present, along with senior department officials.
The officials apprised the chief minister of the timelines with regard to the implementation of the project, and presented him data on the progress made so far, officials said.
"This project is very crucial for transforming the healthcare facilities of Delhi. We must ensure that the whole Health Information Management System project is implemented by 2023," Mr Kejriwal was quoted as saying in the statement.
"At the same time, the government must start distributing the e-health cards at least three months before the HIMS project comes on the ground. They will be able to use the system as soon as it starts functioning. In this manner every resident will be able to benefit from it and we will be able to make our world-class facilities accessible to all," he said.
The Delhi government is making sure that people don't have to make rounds of hospitals and offices to get their e-health cards made. The government will conduct surveys across the entire state to make sure every citizen can get their cards made, the statement said.
These cards would also be made at hospitals and other dedicated centres. The cards will be distributed through a door-to-door campaign, it added.
After the implementation of the HIMS, people will "get freedom from long queues" at hospitals. They will be able to get an appointment with a doctor they wish to see by accessing an online portal from the comfort of their homes. They will be designated a time-frame to meet the doctor and will be able to get consultation as per that, the statement said, adding, the entire system will be "digital and cloud-based".
The Delhi government is trying to implement the HIMS in all government hospitals of Delhi as soon as possible. Private hospitals will also be connected to it in a phased manner. All patient care-related services like hospital administration, budgeting and planning, supply chain management, back-end service and processes will be brought under this system, the CMO said.
It also said that e-health cards will be issued through this system and will be available online for access. After its implementation, Delhi will become the only state in the country to have a cloud-based health management system. At present, such a system is available in some countries such as Sweden, Uganda and Germany, the statement claimed.
Under the e-health card project, QR code-based cards will be issued to residents of Delhi on the basis of voter ID and population registry, from which demographic and basic clinical information of each patient can be obtained. Family mapping will be done through e-health cards for health schemes and programmes, officials said.
It will be integrated with HIMS for seamless information exchange. Cards with QR codes will be distributed to each person after physical verification. Provisions will be made to issue modified or duplicate cards on the request of people.
To implement the HIMS project, a centralised call centre will be set up at two levels. In the first level, call centre operators will receive calls and messages from people. After logging in to the CRM, they will assess the case and get it resolved and inform the available health care staff concerned. The operator will give the relevant information to the caller and a report will be generated at the end, the statement said.
On the other hand, at the second level, doctors and experts of the Delhi government will receive calls and messages and give appointments to the patient.
If the case is an emergency, the helpline will accept their call immediately and talk to them to solve the problem. If need be, they will contact a specialist doctor, it added.
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