State hospitals to go the IT way over next three years, store medical
records of patients electronically
Swatee Kher
Mumbai, March 10: The corridors of JJ Hospital are abuzz with hectic
activity over the first ever total computerisation of the medical records
programme in the state.
In early February, the hospital-which is the largest in Mumbai-was selected
for a pilot project of an eight-year plan, which will involve the complete
computerisation of all patients’ records at the hospital. And, if all goes
well, at the end of the one-year-long project, the hospital could well be
the base for the national computerisation programme that the Central
government is mulling over
The work has taken off after the State cabinet recently granted its approval
for the ambitious plan of complete computerisation of all medical records of
the 33 state-run medical institutions. The contract for the plan was awarded
to Cochin-based Amrita Technologies and Hewlett and Packard (HP), wherein
the software support is extended by Amrita Technologies and the hardware
comes from HP.
“They have been given Build-Own-Operate-Repair contract for eight years,”
said A M Khan, principal secretary (Medical Education and Drug Supplies).
“In the first year, it will be a pilot project in JJ Hospital. Over the next
two years, the plan will be rolled out in hospitals across the state. The
contract for five years is for service and repair.”
Over the next one year, the JJ Hospital staff will be trained by personnel
from Amrita Technologies in IT skills to handle the software and hardware.
There are different kinds of skills and training required for doctors,
clinicians, nurses and other staff to handle the software. Technical experts
from Amrita Technologies have already started conducting studies in some
departments at the hospital.
Amrita Technologies, part of the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission, was started
by 11 Indians who returned home from the United States to be Mata
Amritanandamayi’s (Amma) mission at the 1,500 bed super-speciality hospital.
“It is a software, which we built inside the hospital by discussing various
aspects of it with the doctors and staff,” said Raghu Raman, chief executive
officer, Amrita Technologies.
Once the set-up is in place, it will mean that the patient’s record is
maintained from the minute he walks into the hospital. Then the doctors from
various faculties can take a look at the patient’s data online and know his
previous medication and treatment.
“As of now, there is nine terabytes of data of patients’ electronic medical
records available online in Kerala,” said Raman. “The idea in the
Maharashtra project is to make the medical system IT-enabled, but the
quality of service should not suffer. It will be a challenge to work in such
a huge government set-up. We, however, have the experience of working in
other public and private areas.”
The project will not just entail storing of records but also mean having the
data available for research. “The idea is to optimize patient care and
record all case papers. But it throws up several other interesting aspects
like clinical research and access to all sorts of data,” said Khan.
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