'Govt to transform healthcare service through ICT'

Aiming to boost public health through tele-medicine, a detailed project report for application of information and communication technology (ICT) in health sector is being prepared and will be submitted to the Health Ministry soon.
Health Secretary Lov Verma today said that National Institute of Smart Governance, a not-for-profit company set-up in public private partnership, is preparing the project report of Mission Mode Project (MMP) and it will be submitted very shortly.
"The key approach in the health MMP will be to have an architecturally connected system in each state and thus integrating all the required components, whether they are covered in one system or many," Verma said, after inaugurating a summit on 'ICT in Healthcare: Changing Dimensions of Healthcare in India', organised by Assocham.

The ICT will bring transformation in healthcare service delivery as providers will have easier access to patient data and people will get the benefits in terms of better services, he said.
The focus areas will be public health, patient care, health administration and governance.
"With ICT adoption in health systems, we are hoping to achieve remote consultation, diagnosis and treatment through tele-medicine, facilitate collaboration and co-operation among healthcare providers," he said, according to a statement by Assocham.

Prevalence of paper-based records, inaccessibility of health care information to people and patients, absence of effective and transparent grievance redressal system and lack of timely and inaccurate information are major challenges, Verma said.

The ministry, he said, is mulling setting up a central authority to check compliance of standards in electronic health record (EHR) system, he said.
"The Ministry intends to set up a mechanism to monitor and evaluate implementation of EHR standards and guidelines by healthcare practitioners and vendors. We need to have an e-health authority," he said.