The Centre has formed a national e-Health Record (EHR) system to store and share the health details of each patient who visits any hospital in the country, said Ravinder Kumar Jain, Union Additional Secretary, Health and Family Welfare. He was speaking at the 17th national conference on e-governance here on Friday.
“The government has already notified it and the system will be implemented in all the states which have passed the Clinical Establishments Act,” Ravinder Kumar said. “It is not mandatory to implement EHR in every hospital. But if a hospital implement EHR system, they should maintain the standards as prescribed by the government. Also, a law will be passed by the government in this regard,” he said. He said the EHR system will help increase the efficiency and reduce cost in the healthcare sector in the country as the people will not be forced to undergo same tests again and again.
Speaking on the occasion, Kerala Health Secretary K Elangovan said the state is in the process of creating a health information system database which will help predict the spread of epidemics in the state. Appollo Hospitals executive director Sangita Reddy said embracing information technology is the key to reduce healthcare charges in the country. Source
