Delhi’s healthcare system to go world class, people will get eHealth Cards

NEW DELHI: Committed towards bringing a transformation in the healthcare system of the state, the Delhi Government is set to implement the world class Health Information Management System soon.

As per Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal the Health Information Management System will be a monumental step towards getting the people of Delhi freedom from their problems. The project will bring about a revolution in the healthcare infrastructure of Delhi and make health management seamless; levelling it with the standards of developed countries.

The world class Health Information Management System is all set to be implemented by next year; the department has completed the vendor selection and bidding process and is working on war footing to streamline the project and place it in front of the cabinet.

As part of the project, Health Cards will be assigned to each citizen, which will be a repository of medical information. Doctors will be able to see patient’s medical history using the card and the patients will be able to take appointments from home.

Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal reviewed the progress of the project with Health Minister Shri Satyendar Jain and instructed the officers to expedite the timelines to provide the people of Delhi freedom from their woes in this field. The Chief Minister stated that Delhi Government is committed towards providing the best and most modern healthcare facilities to the people of Delhi and the Health Information Management System will be a monumental step towards getting the people of Delhi freedom from their problems. After the implementation, Delhi will be the first state to have such a world class system in place.

Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal convened a meeting to review the progress of the Health Information Management System project. Health Minister Shri Satyendar Jain along with senior officials from the Health Department, were present in the meeting. During the meeting, the Chief Minister intricately reviewed the progress of the Health Information Management System along with the Health Helpline and the eHealth Card which are two crucial landmarks the project aims to achieve. The Health Department officers presented a detailed project report in front of the Chief Minister. They apprised him of the fact that significant progress has been made in the project and vendor selection and bidding processes have been completed; Technical Evaluation, Approval of Technical Evaluation including clarification has also been completed. The project will be placed in front of the cabinet soon. The officers informed the Chief Minister and the Health Minister that the preparations for the first phase of the project will be completed by the end of this year and the implementation can be done in the beginning of the next year.

The Health Department officials further stated that a lot of progress has been made in the Health Helpline project as well and the vendor selection will be completed soon. Call centres will be set up for the convenience of the people where grievances will be addressed. The set up of these centres is targeted to be completed in the next 3 months. They also said that the RFP Committee of the Health eCard project has outlined and reviewed the RFP.

Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal expressed his satisfaction towards the progress of the HIMS project and said, “Delhi Government is committed towards providing the best and most modern healthcare facilities to the people of Delhi. We want that the people of Delhi can access the most modern and world class health facilities facing no problems. HIMS is a monumental step in this direction so we must be extremely serious towards its implementation and expedite the timelines.” The CM further encouraged the officers who are working 24x7 to bring the project to reality.

People of Delhi will get freedom from long hospital queues

After the implementation of the Health Information Management System, people will get freedom from the long queues of hospitals. They will be able to get an appointment with the 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.

Surveys will be conducted to make eHealth Cards

The Delhi Government is making sure that people don’t have to make rounds of hospitals and offices to get their eHealth Cards made. The Delhi Government will conduct surveys across the entire state to make sure every citizen can get their eHealth Card made. The cards will also be made at hospitals and other dedicated centres. The cards will be distributed through a door-to-door campaign. The eHealth Card will contain the entire medical history of the cardholder and they will be able to get treated at any hospital on the HIMS system. One will not be required to carry medical reports and documents if they have the card.

The entire system will be digital and cloud based

The Delhi Government is trying to implement 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. Health Cards will be issued through this system and will be available online for access. This will help the people of Delhi get all the information under one roof and immediate help in emergency cases. 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 developed countries like Sweden, Uganda and Germany.

Many provisions have been proposed for the health card project

Under the Health Card Project, QR code based eHealth Cards will be issued to the 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. 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 the people.

Call Centres will be made for a centralised health helpline

To implement the HIMS project, a centralised call center will be set up at two levels. In the first level, call center 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. 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 of the concerned disease.