New Delhi: Embracing the Digital India vision, the healthcare sector is undergoing a revolution. Patients can now ditch the queues and book appointments online, while hospitals join hands with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) to create a seamless, connected network. To save time, patients coming to hospitals for treatment are being given token numbers and OPD appointments through online mediums. Under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), hospitals are being connected to patients online.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission was started September in the year 2021, due to which ABHA ID of patients is being created in hospitals with complete information of patients available on this ID and through this ID, patients can make online appointments and doctor prescriptions. Doctors prescribe medicines to patients on this ID. There is no need for the doctor to write the patient’s illness on the prescription on paper. Its complete information is being made available on this ID. This means that after this ID of the patients is generated, they do not have to stand in long queues for the slips in the hospitals.
ABDM aims to empower patients with digital access to their health records. Everything from doctor prescriptions, lab reports, vaccination records, hospital discharge summaries, etc. will be digitally available to the patient through their unique Health ID called ABHA number. The patients will no longer be required to carry medical files or worry about forgetting or losing their medical records. They can securely access their records digitally and manage them from their phones.
This facility has been started in hospitals in different states of the country from 2021 and till now around 50 crore Abha IDs have been generated under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. And among the states where this work is going on at a fast pace, Uttar Pradesh is at the forefront.
The District Government Combined Hospital of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Noida, Uttar Pradesh is progressing rapidly in the matter of Abha ID registration. ABHA IDs of about 2000 patients are being registered in this hospital every day and in the last 3 months, this number has reached one lakh forty eight thousand. Along with this, the work of generating ABHA IDs of patients is progressing rapidly in all the different hospitals of Uttar Pradesh and according to the National Health Authority, Uttar Pradesh has become the state with the highest number of Scan and Share Fast OPDs.
Also Read: Make India Leading Power In Medical Research, Health Care: President Droupadi Murmu
Dr. Renu Aggarwal, CMS, District Hospital, Noida, said that this hospital is the largest in the district and sees a crowd of thousands of patients every day. The crowd is so huge that from the entry gate of the hospital to the parking lot. There is no space left. There is a queue of people outside the gate. Seeing the increasing crowd of people, the hospital found a solution and started generating ABHA IDs of the patients under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission run by the Central Government. The National Health Authority team came to our hospital and set up this entire system.
Dr. Renu Aggarwal said that from August this year, the work of generating Abha IDs was started under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and now the facility is being provided to the patients through digital medium in all the OPDs and pharmacies of our hospital.
The doctor said that after registering the patient under Abha ID, the long queues outside the hospital have ended. Now within a few minutes, patients register online and get a token number, then immediately they get an appointment with the doctor. After seeing them, the doctor mentions their problem and which medicine to take on the ID itself, so that he can get the information about the patient on the ID. The entire history, from where he has taken treatment and who is undergoing treatment, remains available, due to which he does not have to carry any kind of papers or files with him all the time. And due to this, a lot of time is being saved for the patients and the hospital administration has also got a lot of convenience.
CMS of the hospital said that for this, we motivated all the people they teaching them how to create ABHA ID through their mobile, how to download the application and enter their information on it, although we had first, There were no data entry operators, so the hospital staff gradually adopted it and now implemented it in all OPDs. And now whatever patients are coming to the hospital, first of all, they are given an online token so that they do not have to stand in the queue for a long time and after that, they can see the doctor and along with this they can also take medicines through this ID.
Dr Aggarwal added that to make the patients coming to the hospital aware, a counter has been set up near the gate of the hospital where a poster has been put up with the slogan of ‘Abha Banao Digital ho Jao’. Ten people are there. There is a team that is helping people to download the application on mobile and do registration, even the security guards present at the entry gate are giving information to the patients regarding this.
Apart from this, Dr. Adhya Singh Medical Officer, District Hospital, Noida, who is consulting the patients through online OPD, said that after the patient’s ABHA ID is generated, when he comes to us, we open the patient’s ID in our computer and ask about his problem and after that whatever problem he has, the information about it is typed on the ID itself. Along with this, the medicine that has to be given to him is also prescribed on the ID itself. After this, the patient gets further treatment and takes medicine. This entire work is paperless so that even if the patient goes to another hospital or to another doctor, the complete information related to his health is available on his Abha ID only. The doctor said that there is no need to write the medicine on paper, we prescribe the medicine online, and the patient can scan the barcode from his mobile and take the medicine from the pharmacy.
The doctor said that due to online OPD, there is no need to search old papers to see the patient’s health history. It appears only after opening an ID and is always available on it, which has brought a lot of convenience to both the patient and the doctor.
Also Read: Ayushman Bharat Health And Wellness Centres Renamed As ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandir’
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
