Treatment at your fingertips: 751 hospitals adopt e-health facility in Kerala

KOZHIKODE: Patients no longer need to wait long hours for hospital services in Kerala, as 751 hospitals have adopted the e-health system. The platform allows online access to doctor consultations, medicine purchases, and other treatments. With digitized services through UHID cards, healthcare from primary centers to medical colleges is integrated into one system.

E-health covers 18 medical colleges, 33 district general hospitals, 86 taluk hospitals, 43 primary health centers, 501 family health centers, 50 urban primary health centers, 14 specialty hospitals, 3 public health labs, and 3 other centers. The e-health system is being prepared in 1400 hospitals under the Directorate of Health Services and the Directorate of Medical Education in the state. Out of these, about 50 percent of the hospitals have e-health system.

The Kerala Health Department started the project in collaboration with the IT Mission in 2016. After getting a UHID card by doing permanent registration through Aadhaar card and mobile phone, the doctor's service will be available online at the specified time. Patients can book OP tickets online, access digital medical records, and share lab results directly with doctors. Treatment history is visible to doctors only if patients use permanent UHID cards instead of temporary ones.

8,45,49,350 people have registered on e-health, including 2,61,21,766 (30.9%) with permanent UHID cards. Out of these, 16,69,60,204 people have sought treatment across hospitals.

Thiruvananthapuram leads with 111 e-health hospitals, followed by Ernakulam (82). Pathanamthitta and Idukki have the fewest, at 27 each. Authorities confirm efforts to onboard all hospitals swiftly.

''The process of converting all hospitals to the e-health system is progressing. It will be implemented as soon as possible.” - Dr. Sandeep, e-Health Ad. Project Director