The Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan recently launched the Integrated Health Information Platform. According to the health ministry, India is the first country to adopt such an advanced surveillance system.
About the Platform
- The Integrated Health Information Platform is to operate under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.
- The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme operates under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- The platform aims to strengthen the disease surveillance in the country. This is to be achieved by establishing a decentralised state-based surveillance system for epidemic prone diseases.
- The key features of the platform are real time data reporting through use of mobile applications, geo-tagging of health facilities, etc.
- The platform aims to provide better care and maintain confidential health data.
- The platform will hold information about prevalence of disease in different districts of the country. The information is to be collected through ASHA workers and ANMs.
How is the information collected?
The information for the platform is to be collected in the following way:
- Every health worker is to be provided with a type of form namely S, P and L.
- The S-form will be provided to the ground workers involved in surveys. They will help collect on spot information about the prevalence of the disease.
- The P-form is to be provided to the doctors. Through this form, the doctors will collect patient name, address, contact number along with his diagnosis.
- The L-form is provided to the laboratory personnel. Through this form, they will collect details of pathological investigation.
Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme
The IDSP was launched in 2004. The programme is assisted by the World Bank. The main objective of the programme is to detect and respond to disease outbreaks quickly.