NEW DELHI: After AIIMS here rolled out the registration of patients coming to its Out Patient Department (OPD) through ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account), other centre-run hospitals are also prepping to start the same approach at their facility.
Medical Superintendent (MS) of Safdarjung Hospital, Dr BL Sherwal said that preparations are underway on a large scale to provide treatment facilities using ABHA numbers. “We are integrating ABHA into our e-hospital manual. Through this, patients will be able to register themselves quickly. Apart from OPD, registration for the treatment of various diseases in daycare will also be available through the ABHA number,” he informed.
However, unlike AIIMS, registration through ABHA will not become mandatory. “80% of our patients come from the city. Since Delhi state has not adopted Ayushman Bharat scheme yet, local patients will not be able to register themselves with ABHA. That is why we will not make it mandatory for them,” he said.
Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital’s HMIS in-charge Dr Sameek Bhattacharya said the ABHA system already exist in the e-hospital manual of the institute and will be promoted.
“We already have the system in place. However, we will promote it further in the patient care areas,” he said. ABHA, launched under Bushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDHM), allows patients to record all their medical history at one place. This helps reduce the time taken at the OPD registration counter, provides accurate data for the record and, most importantly, avoids the wait in the long queues.
By using the ABHA number, the records related to the health of the patients will be available online. OPD registration of the patient will also be done in a few seconds. Under the manual process, it takes an average of two minutes for OPD registration of a patient.