In a significant step towards modernising healthcare services, the National Health Mission-NHM in Tripura has launched an ambitious initiative to digitise patient records and integrate healthcare professionals across public and private facilities under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission or ABDM.
NHM Tripura Additional Mission Director Binoy Bhusan Das highlighted the importance of seamlessly integrating healthcare stakeholders onto a unified digital platform. “The goal is to streamline healthcare services by centralizing patient records, prescriptions, test reports, and treatments,” he asserted.
Das further elaborated, “This number will serve as a digital repository for the individual’s medical history. With the patient’s consent, doctors can access these records instantly, revolutionizing the healthcare process.”
Under this initiative, every patient visiting a hospital will be issued an Ayushman Bharat Health Account or ABHA card, complete with a unique identification number.
So far, over 15.5 lakh individuals have been issued ABHA cards. The implementation of ‘scan and share’ technology, featuring QR codes, enables automatic uploading of patient data to hospital servers upon scanning. This innovation facilitates digital appointment scheduling with doctors, enhancing efficiency and convenience for patients.
The digitisation initiative extends beyond hospitals to include private practitioners, retired doctors, laboratories, nursing homes, and pharmacies. “The aim is to ensure comprehensive availability of healthcare data to the government,” noted Das.
Approximately 5,000 doctors, spanning modern and alternative medicines such as Ayurveda and homeopathy, are eligible for enrolment in the system, with 1,500 already onboard. This concerted effort towards digitisation promises to revolutionise healthcare delivery in Tripura, marking a significant stride towards a more efficient and patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.
