Karnataka: K C General Hospital bags Ayushman Utkrishtata Puraskaar for digitisation of patient records

Bengaluru: The K C General Hospital in Bengaluru, run by the Karnataka government, was awarded the 'Ayushman Utkrishtata Puraskaar' by the National Health Authority for linking the highest number of patient health records to Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA). 

The ceremony took place at the Arogya Manthan 2022 held in Delhi on Monday, which was a two-day event celebrating the completion of four years of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which was earlier reported by the Medical Dialogues team. 

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The KC General Hospital has linked around 8,450 health records to ABHA. Andhra Pradesh stands at the top with a record of linking 12,056,084 health records to ABHA, and Karnataka reportedly linked 1,68,254 reports. 

Sudhakar stated, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is to create a national digital health ecosystem that supports universal health coverage in an efficient, accessible, inclusive, affordable, timely, and safe manner. ABHA offers a seamless online platform providing a wide range of data, information, and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems, and ensuring security, confidentiality, and privacy of health-related personal information." 

The government states that linking medical records to ABHA helps in retrieving them anytime without any wastage of time. According to Karnataka Principal Health Secretary T K Anil Kumar, since the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) scheme was launched in 2018, around 36.71 lakh beneficiaries have been treated under it till August. 

Kumar said, "Karnataka is the first state to have a dedicated Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY Arogya Karnataka cell. We have been proactive in extending health care through the integrated Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) scheme to all the residents of Karnataka as it covers the below poverty line (BPL) as well as above poverty line (APL) population." 

In a tweet, as reported in The New Indian Express, Health, and Family Welfare Commissioner Randeep D stated that he was honored to receive five awards for the state under the ABDM, adding that Karnataka came in the top three for highest personal health record linkages pan-India. 

Karnataka has emerged as the first state which has registered 25,175 healthcare professionals on the ABDM portal, in addition to maintaining the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR), reports the Indian Express. Meanwhile, the District Government Hospital in Karnataka's Dharwad received the award for being the top-performing government health facility. 

Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya said, "There should be no space for fraud in AB-PMJAY, which aims for the healthcare of the poorest in society. We need to use all available technology tools to remove even the smallest scope for any fraud."

The event which was held from September 24 to 26, was conducted by the National Health Authority and saw the presence of a number of health officials from across the country. The theme involved bringing forth the nation's finest health practices in each state which could be implemented in other states to enhance the quality of healthcare provided nationwide.

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