Health Locker

State residents can now collate all their health records at one place with the help of E-Health Records (EHR), an initiative by the Department of Information Technology and Communication (DoIT&C).

EHR is an electronic database where one can keep his/her medical documents stored. The e-platform gives a person space to store records of previous treatments, details of medical tests, hospital visits, laboratory tests, and much more. These records can be accessed by doctors from any hospital around the world, based on the permission provided by the patient.

“The initiative aims to provide the facility of proper healthcare across the state– through public as well as private medical institutions and practitioners– in a secure, efficient, effective and reliable manner,” said Akhil Arora, principal secretary, DoIT&C.

The website registers these records via Bhamashah account number of the user. The user must also have a Single Sign On ID in order to use this facility.

To begin with, the electronic health records of current Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojna beneficiaries have been generated so far, informed a source closely dealing with the matter who did not want to be quoted.

The record can be accessed by the other party, whether doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or family member, based on what the patient has authorised them to see. A time limit can also be set after which the access will be terminated.

At present, access to EHR has been granted to all family members of a Bhamashah Family who share the same Bhamashah ID, implying that a family member can view EHR of all family members.

“The government may later allow separate IDs for each family members, except minors,” the source said.

EHR is as segment of the Integrated Health Management System, an upcoming programme by the department which is a one stop solution for multiple software being used to run the state-based hospitals.

What the law says

According to the law of privacy, the details of the patients should not be revealed to any third agency. The state is allowed to upload it on the website, the access of which can only be given to the patient. In case there is a direct consent that it should be shared with the other doctors, then only it should be done.“If there is any leakage or piracy, or someone intrudes into the system and gets the details, then this would amount to infringement of the right,” said Prateek Kasliwal, cyber advocate, Rajasthan High Court.

Aarogya Abhiyan that crashed

Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Rajasthan had started ‘Aarogya Rajasthan Abhiyan’ in 2015, under which e-health cards were generated for each patient. However, these health cards were based on the central registration number of the hospital. Hence, doctors from other hospitals could not access these records.“But, EHR is like a permanent file being developed for the patients. It will give benefit to the doctors also,” said Dr Ravi Prakash Sharma, additional director, hospital administration, Department of Medical, Health, and Family Welfare.

Other initiatives

The department has installed several other technology-based initiatives. The e-mitra plus platform allows to avail services of about 200 government schemes under one roof. Free WiFi will also be provided to 10,000 rural and 5,000 urban areas of the state, among others.

Patients hold key

The patients have complete control over allowing access to their E-Health Record. They have the option to share the entire record or selected parts of it. The information can also be shared for a limited amount of time. On choosing to share the EHR, they will be required to enter the details of the person with whom the details are shared, including mobile number, email ID, and address. The patients will then receive an OTP for confirmation. A message with Verification Code will also be sent on the mobile number of the person with whom the EHR is shared.