Integrated Health Information Platform adopted by 36 States/UTs for disease surveillance, informs Union Minister Baghel

Prof Satya Pal Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, stated, "IHIP is an information platform that integrates data from various "registries” to provide near real-time information on health surveillance from all across India for decision-makers to take appropriate public health action. It is designed to capture case-based data of more than 33 plus health conditions along with special surveillance of ILI/SARI, COVID-19 and Monkey Pox.

The minister was responding to a question by Shri S Niranjan Reddy about whether the Government proposes to modernize and improve the disease surveillance infrastructure. Giving the details of the existing disease surveillance infrastructure in the country, the minister pointed out the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), which is a flagship programme at NCDC, MoHFW,  mandated with surveillance and response to outbreak-prone communicable diseases.

The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), a flagship initiative at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), was established in 2004 with a primary focus on surveillance and response to outbreak-prone communicable diseases. Its key objectives include strengthening a decentralized laboratory-based IT-enabled disease surveillance system for epidemic-prone diseases, monitoring disease trends, and facilitating the early detection and response to outbreaks. The program aims to create a trained cadre of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) at the District, State, and National levels.

The organizational structure includes a Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) at the central level, a State Surveillance Unit (SSU) at the State/UTs level, and a District Surveillance Unit (DSU) at the district level. In the event of an outbreak-prone disease, rapid response teams are deployed at the district, state, and central levels for comprehensive outbreak investigations and timely response actions.

The surveillance tool consists of S (Syndromic) form filled by ANMs at the Sub-centre level, P (Presumptive) form filled by medical officers at health facility level and L (Laboratory confirmed) form filled by laboratories as per standard case definitions. Every State has designated laboratories like District Public Health Laboratories (DPHLs), State Referral Laboratories (SRLs) under IDSP for investigation and surveillance of these diseases. Moreover, the government has approved to set up Metropolitan Surveillance Units in 20 metropolitan cities (10 tier 1 and 10 tier 2 cities) in India.