Digitally plugging the policy gap, Andhra Pradesh The government is all set to harmonize the network of state hospitals Digital Health Card which has already been issued to about 70% of the state’s population. According to the state government, this step will be the first for reforms Healthcare services AP currently tops the list of states in the country for creating digital health cards.
“Issuing digital health cards with unique ID and bar coding to around 3.18 crore people against the total population of the state of 4.7 crore is no small feat. Our field teams have worked very well right from the village secretariat and CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is very keen to upgrade the entire health infrastructure in the state,” said MT Krishna Babu, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare.
The state government has already set the stage for the construction of YSR rural clinics in more than 11,000 villages of the state. A digital health card with a 14-digit unique ID number will be seeded at rural health clinics, PHCNetworked with community health centers, teaching hospitals and private hospitals YSR Arogyashree Yojana.
According to top government officials, complete health data of the population will be digitally recorded every time a patient visits the hospital, which will be accessible to senior doctors and specialists of the teaching hospital in case of emergency.
“Simply showing the digital health card at a super specialty hospital, be it a teaching hospital or a private network hospital, is enough for the patient to get immediate healthcare assistance from doctors as the patient’s history will be displayed on the screen. A few seconds. Specialists can start treatment keeping in mind the past history of the patient without taking much time,” said Krishna Babu.
According to Babu, the state government has started training field-staff to be deployed in village health clinics to record all health details of people so that it can act as future reference for treatment.
Interestingly, 95% of the population in AP is covered under the YSR Arogyashri Yojana, under which the state government is providing free treatment for over 2,500 procedures, including surgery. Comprehensive treatment for chronic diseases such as cancer and Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is also being covered under Arogyashri.
