Following the decision to set up the National eHealth Authority (NeHA), the health ministry is next planning to institutionalise the e-health initiative across the country by coming out with a draft notification for the same. To take the matters ahead, the ministry is planning to meet stakeholders from across the healthcare and IT sector on May 9 in Delhi.
 
The meeting is primarily focused on sensitising the industry about the government initiatives that are targeted to achieve this, while also to get the stakeholders suggestions and views on the subject. At the same time, the meeting will take stock of all the recent developments and advancements in e-health initiatives undertaken globally, so as to look at the feasibility of adopting the same in India as well. This may be done by exploring a private public partnership model for efficient and effective delivery of services.
 
The e-health initiative is basically focused to make healthcare more accessible to the patients across the country through effective use of technology like phone, computers, laptops etc. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, who is chairing this meeting between the government and the industry informed that the e-health is focused to provide healthcare delivery right from the basic level to patients by developing the technological capabilities to ensure effective e-diagnostics, e-prescription, and e-monitoring facilities to name a few.
 
He said that it is high time to concentrate on developing such alternative methods to strengthen the healthcare system especially in the light of glaring gap in the current system where the percentage of trained allopathic doctors and nurses compared to growing population is disturbingly lower than required. The matter is worse in the rural areas where there is far less trained healthcare professionals.
 
“Till now the government has been looking at e-health initiative as just a programme but this meeting is a sign towards its transition to be recognised as a national level requirement. This meeting will help the government in preparing a concept note for the same as it will specifically focus on gauging the capabilities of companies in India in the field of e-health as well as m-health. The meeting may open up deliberations over the research related to joint working or collaboration opportunities between the public and private sector and the outcome of studies on PPP models,” Gupta a healthcare expert who was in-charge of preparing the BJP election manifesto added.
 
The meeting will have experts and senior officials from the ministry of health and family welfare along with senior officials of the ministry of communication & IT.