Kerala Private Pharmacists Association (KPPA) has put forward a proposal to have a Personal Health Diary for each citizen of Kerala to the three political alliances – LDF, UDF, NDA - which are facing the forthcoming assembly elections in the state next month.

The association wanted the political alliances to include a system of distributing ‘Personal Health Diary’ (PHD) and ‘Health Card’ (like Aadhar) to all individuals, extending from birth to death, in the election manifestos.

The PHD can be manual as well as electronically made and it could be updated with details of every treatment stage by stage, so that one person can produce his/her medical history before any doctor anywhere to diagnose and for proper advise for medications accordingly. This will help the treating doctors as well as the patient himself to track the medical history, general health condition of the body and current lifestyle.

The number of the electronically created health card will help any person to avail proper treatment from any health centre anywhere in the world. It will tell the doctors his/her medical and treatment history. Like Aadhar number, the health card number will show the details of the person’s health condition and medication details in the computer in every hospital. This will reduce the anxieties related to health problems and drug use, says K.R. Dineshkumar, general secretary of KPPA, who gave the memorandum to the three political alliances.

The system can be started with the birth of a child whose date of birth, time of birth, weight, health condition at the time of delivery and the first vaccine or the drop of medicine administered etc. can be recorded in the diary. Besides, opinions of doctors including pediatricians can also be documented for next stage of treatment of the child. This record will become the beginning of the medical history of that child, and the later stages treatment, details of diet and health check-ups can  be registered in the diary as the child grows up.

The personal health diaries for all citizens of a state should be made, manually and electronically, by the department of health and after every treatment the data with regard to personal conditions, medicines, laboratory tests, drug allergies, insurance information as well as questions, concerns and symptoms they wish to discuss, should be entered into the diary, in the manual copy and in the computer. With this, a new doctor from a distant place can acquire specific knowledge about the medical histories of his patient, and he can deliver quality and effective healthcare.

“The PHD will be recorded with the last treatment one person availed from a doctor/hospital. The name of doctors treated, details of hospitals where he/she was treated, what were the medicines prescribed for him, how many of them he/she has taken and the report of diagnosis and tests will be there in the diary. It will be in the form of a document where the patient can mention family medical histories, stage by stage details of treatment etc,” said Dinesh Kumar.

In February last, when the KPPA conducted Parliament march in New Delhi, the association submitted memorandum with regard to ‘PHD and Health Card’ to the Union health minister and to the members of Parliament from Kerala.