Delhi cabinet gives financial nod to ambitious e-health card project

There will soon be a provision for self-registration for health cards through a web or mobile-based interface, officials said. The system will not only allow doctors to access a patient’s entire medical records, it will also give patients benefits such as booking consultant appointments online

The Delhi cabinet on Tuesday gave the financial nod to the e-health card project, conceived as a repository to store an individual’s entire medical history, which will be connected to a cloud-based health information management system. Anyone with a Delhi voter ID, or a parent with a Delhi voter ID in the case of a minor, will be issued an e-health card from the Delhi government healthcare institutions.

The e-health card project will not only allow doctors to access a patient’s entire medical records, it will also give patients benefits such as booking consultant appointments online. (Picture for representation only/Raj K Raj-HT)

There will soon be a provision for self-registration for health cards through a web or mobile-based interface, officials said. The system will not only allow doctors to access a patient’s entire medical records, it will also give patients benefits such as booking consultant appointments online.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the National Digital Health Mission, under which there will be four main components -- a unique digital health ID, health care professionals’ registry, health facility registry, and electronic health records.

Delhi’s programme to create a world-class health management system was first approved by the cabinet in 2018.

The health card will have the complete demographic and key clinical details of a person, along with related information about the individual’s eligibility under various health schemes and programmes of the Delhi government.

Delhi residents will be able to register themselves for issuance of a temporary e-health card, with a validity of one year, which will be converted to a permanent one once the person’s details have been validated through surveys and all required data is updated subsequently.

There will be provisions for getting the card reissued and changing incorrect demographic details. The government will also set up a centralised help desk for the same, officials in the know of the matter said.