An electronic health record of every citizenaccessible via a unique identifying number at any government hospital,telemedicine and online appointment booking are some of the features of the newDigital Health Mission project inaugurated at 50 state-run hospitals by Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday.
The Chief Minister of Kerala, during thelaunch event, said, “At present, it has been implemented in 311 hospitals wherethis queue management system has been set up. People can take appointments ofthe doctors through the ehealth portal and it will be easier for thedoctors to refer patients to other hospitals.”
The health card will store all the healthdata of each individual in the state, which can be accessed by the doctor ofany hospital.
Besides this, several emerging technologyhealth projects like -- diabetic retinopathy, blood bank traceability andvaccine coverage analysis -- are also being launched by the Kerala Developmentand Innovation Strategy Council (K-DISC), the CM said during the online event.
Health Minister Veena George has said thatadvance appointments in hospitals can be made through the eHealth web portal(ehealth.kerala.gov.in) set up by the state health department. Onlyappointments can be made at hospitals that have implemented eHealth.
Doctor services are available at more than300 e-health facilities with advance bookings in advance at scheduled dates andtimes. Online printing of OP tickets and token slips is possible. Theappointment through the hospital will continue as it is, the minister said.
Steps to create a unique Health ID:
· To access e-Healthservices, you must first create an identification number.
· To do so, go toehealth.kerala.gov.in and click on the register link.
· Enter the Aadhaarnumber in it.
· Then the OTP willappear on the Aadhaar registered number.
· A personal healthidentification number can be obtained online by providing this OTP.
· When you log in forthe first time, you will receive a 16-digit personal health identificationnumber and password as a message on your mobile.
· With this identificationnumber and password you can make an appointment at the hospital on the due dateand time.
Steps to book an online appointment:
· Log in to the ehealth portal with your unique health ID and password.
· Click NewAppointment. If it is a referral, record that information and then select thehospital and department.
· Available tokens forthe selected day will be displayed when the appointment date is selected.
· You can pick up thetoken at a convenient time.
· You will get theapointment details in your phone as SMS as well.
· Show the SMS bookingdetails at the hospital.
This facility will also help around 50,000primary, secondary and tertiary level doctors, paramedical and non-clinicalstaff to utilize information technology in providing services in the healthsector through the eHealth scheme launched by the Government of Kerala.