Why in news? 

From a mere 124 verified healthcare professionals in its Health Professionals Registry (HPR) under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) in July, Karnataka now stands first in the country with 25,511 professionals registered in its HPR.

Highlights:

• With 23,983 verified health facilities under ABDM, Karnataka now has the second highest number of health facilities in Health Facility Registry (HFR). Uttar Pradesh is on top in this category with 28,774 verified facilities.
• According to the ABDM dashboard launched by the National Health Authority, Karnataka has so far created 88.8 lakh Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHAs). With this, Karnataka is in the 12th position in terms of ABHAs created. Of the total 24.46 crore ABHAs created in the country, Andhra Pradesh is the highest contributor with 3.41 crore.
• With 800 integrators and over 40 digital health service applications integrated into it, the ABDM aims to digitise healthcare delivery by building an ecosystem that rides on collaboration between the government and the private sector.
• Under the ABDM, every citizen would be provided with a unique health identity. Along with it, a comprehensive registry of all the doctors — from super specialists to general physicians — will be collated.

Government hospitals awarded

• “The State-run K.C. General Hospital in Bengaluru has been awarded the ‘Ayushman Utkrishtata Puraskaar’ by the National Health Authority for being the top government facility in the country for digitisation of the highest number of PHRs linked to ABHAs. The award was presented at the Arogya Manthan 2022 held in Delhi.
• “The evaluation cut-off date for the ABDM evaluation was September 19 and till then the top three health facilities in India for PHR linkage were from our State.
• Apart from K C General, District hospitals in Dharwad and Vijayapura had the highest linkages. We did not miss a single opportunity to promote interoperability and its benefits to people. Once they witnessed the advantages of digitisation, it was easier to make them understand.

Challenges

• There is an apprehension about privacy and data security. Besides this, multiple platforms for PHR creation and linkage and creating/updating of health records in Hospital Information Management System (HIMS) are the other challenges that are being faced.

Measures taken:

• Measures were taken to sensitising people on PHR via social media and extensive decentralised awareness information, education and communication campaigns.