CoWIN ?may? help? docs? track appointments,?patient ?data


SOURCE: HTTPS://WWW-LIVEMINT-COM.CDN.AMPPROJECT.ORG/
DEC 17, 2022

Doctors and medical professionals may soon be able to manage appointments and maintain patient records over the vaccine platform CoWIN, with the National Health Authority (NHA) integrating it with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM)—the backbone of India’s digital healthcare system.

“NHA is developing a lightweight health management information system (HMIS) solution that will allow small clinics and providers to manage appointments, patient information and prescriptions. The HMIS will be integrated with all ABDM modules and allow the doctor and clinic to create a health professional ID and a health facility ID," R.S. Sharma, chief executive of NHA, said in an interview.

“The HMIS is being built keeping in mind the challenges faced by doctors in using digital devices during a consultation. The doctor-friendly interface will allow them to create prescriptions seamlessly, take video consultations and manage vaccination appointments," Sharma said.

CoWIN was the backbone of the covid vaccination programme beginning 16 January 2021. Currently, it has options such as registration, beneficiary tracking, appointment scheduling, vaccine stock management, real-time data monitoring, identity verification, vaccination, and issuing an instant digital certificate to each vaccinated individual. Several countries have shown interest in learning the CoWIN technology.

CoWIN has so far recorded more than 2.2 billion administered vaccine doses through 5,773 vaccination sites. Around 1.03 billion first doses, 950.9 million second doses and 22.1 million precaution doses have been administered over CoWIN.

However, the pace of covid vaccination has declined; on Friday, till 3pm, the vaccination numbers were low—Delhi (259), Andhra Pradesh (152), Goa (5), Haryana (373), Kerala (162) and Odisha (23).

Last month, Mint reported that the health ministry is working on upgrading CoWIN for the effective implementation of India’s universal immunization programme. This will allow healthcare professionals to digitally track the immunization status of beneficiaries (mother and children) on a real-time basis and address the vaccination needs immediately. Currently, the immunization status of children eligible under is done manually.

Besides, the Aarogya Setu mobile app, which was launched in April 2020 to limit the spread of covid-19 through bluetooth-based contact tracing and mapping of likely covid hotspot areas, is also being upgraded.

“Arogya Setu is also being repurposed as an all-encompassing health application which will allow patients to create their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABH) through face authentication, book physical and teleconsultation appointments and view their prescriptions," Sharma said.

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