E- hospital to be inaugurated soon at Vijayawada Government General Hospital

Vijayawada: As part of its efforts to leave no stone unturned in the healthcare sector, the Andhra Pradesh government is set to inaugurate the first e-Hospital in the state at the Government General Hospital in Vijayawada. 

The e-hospital shall be inaugurated soon and upon its launch will provide access to health records of patients from anywhere in India.

Under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, the e-Hospital application is a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for internal workflows and processes of hospitals. This one-stop solution helps in connecting patients, hospitals, and doctors on a single digital platform.

It will be offered as a product to Government Hospitals across the country through SaaS (Software as a service) model. In time, the concept will be spread to all government hospitals for the benefit of the patients.

However, the state will home the first e-hospital and the patients will be able to access it simply by using any Personal Health Records (PHR) app like ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) unique 14-digit health identification number or Aarogya Setu to share their demographic details with the hospital QR code to get a token number. As the QR code is generic, it can be used across the hospital.

The modules of e-Hospital applications which are currently available on the cloud are Patient Registration (OPD & Casualty), IPD (Admission, Discharge & Transfer), Billing, Lab Information System, Radiology Information System, Clinic, Dietary, Laundry, Store & Pharmacy and OT Management. Out of these, seven modules on the GGH campus have been updated into the e-Hospital.

Speaking to TNIE, GS Naveen Kumar, Special Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), said, "All blocks of the GGH and Old GGH, beds, specialities, labs, operation theatres, unit-wise and day-wise doctors' mapping, ICUs, blood bank, diet module, linen module, Admissions, Discharges and Transfers (ADT) are mapped to generate Ayushman Bharat health accounts."

Dr B Sowbhagya Lakshmi, Superintendent of GGH, said, "ABHA counters are set up in the super speciality block. For the first time in the State, a model reception counter for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission has been set up in an innovative way. The e-Hospital is now ready with ORS (Online Registration System). With the ORS, patients can take online appointments for all specialities."

G Sashidhar, e-hospital facilitator, said, "Vijayawada GGH has a Facility Health Registry (FHR) and provision has been made for lab information services for lab reports, Radiology Information Service (RIS) for radiology procedure reports. All the doctors have been permitted for the OP and IP modules. e-Pharmacy module works are yet to be completed. Radiology reports can be accessed by doctors from their consultation room through the Pacs system."

"Online Registration System mapping has also been completed. Now, patients can take appointments from anywhere in India. The QR code is also accessible with Paytm," he added.

According to the GGH authorities, 80% of the data processing has been completed and installed in 80 computers in all the departments of both old and new GGH campuses.

M Rama Krishna, the e-hospital data administrator, said, "We have almost completed data installation and for smooth operation, there is a need for more than 40 systems. Manpower is also needed for data entry and inpatient registration. Now, 200 Mbps internet has been provided and there is a need for high-speed internet with 500 Mbps for the new systems."