Centre to launch cloud-based hospital management system for small clinics

The Centre will launch a lightweight, cloud-based Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for small outpatient clinics on Monday.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda will launch an e-Sushrut clinic, a simplified HMIS developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), aimed at addressing the digital needs of small clinics, primary health centres, health and wellness centres, sub-centres and private outpatient facilities.

The initiative comes amid concerns that existing hospital management software is often too expensive and complex for smaller healthcare facilities, forcing many to continue relying on manual processes.

According to the officials, several states and Union territories have also expressed interest in deploying a lightweight HMIS for public health facilities.

 

The cloud-based platform has been designed to automate routine clinic operations such as patient registration, billing, management information system (MIS) reporting, speech-to-text documentation and clinical decision support, while requiring minimal technical expertise from users.

The software also integrates key Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) features, including speech-to-text capabilities and clinical decision support systems.

Officials said only healthcare professionals registered under the Health Professional Registry (HPR) will be able to use the platform, with HPR and Health Facility Registry (HFR) integration forming part of the onboarding process.

More than 800 health facilities have already been onboarded on e-Sushrut clinic, generating over 680 health records, according to official data.

C-DAC is also implementing the full-scale e-Sushrut hospital management software across more than 15 AIIMS and several state government hospitals.

As part of the rollout, the National Health Authority (NHA) will sign a memorandum of understanding with C-DAC under which the agency will provide financial and operational support for the platform's expansion.

Under the agreement, C-DAC will be responsible for software maintenance and upgrades, while the National Health Authority (NHA) will bear expenses related to cloud hosting and SMS notifications sent to patients regarding ABDM services and other updates.

The NHA will also extend its call centre services to provide first-level customer support, while C-DAC will train call centre personnel and monitor service quality.

The software is priced at Rs 499 per month for up to five users. Under the NHA-C-DAC partnership, users will receive a subsidy of Rs 200, reducing the effective monthly subscription to Rs 299. The platform will also be offered free of cost for the first three months.

Additional users beyond the five-user limit will be charged Rs 50 per user per month, officials said.