Aimed at helping small outpatient clinics that face challenges with manual processes and lack of affordable digital solutions, the Union Health Ministry is all set to launch the e-Sushrut@Clinic.

eSushrut@Clinic is a light Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), created by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to address these challenges by providing a simple, affordable, and user-friendly digital solution specifically tailored for small outpatient clinics.

Need for light database

“Large HMIS are often too complex and costly for these clinics and this results in small clinics struggling with inefficiencies in digitisation of the health system,” said a release issued by the Ministry.

It added that the need of having a government-backed and affordable HMIS has been coming from various microsite participants in spite of a large number of private HMIS players. Many States/Union Territories have also expressed interest to use a light HMIS for their public facilities.

The Ministry proposes to open the light HMIS for government primary health centres, sub-centres and private clinics, etc.

C-DAC implementing it

Currently, over 800 health facilities are boarded on eSushrut@Clinic, generating over 680 health records. C-DAC is also implementing the eSushrut software, which is being installed at more than 15 AIIMS and in various State government hospitals.

Listing the features, the Ministry said that e-Sushrut@Clinic provides a lightweight, cloud-based HMIS designed specifically for outpatient clinics which simplifies tasks like patient registration, billing, etc., thus making work easier and reducing mistakes.

“This is also a budget-friendly option for small healthcare facilities and clinics, allowing them to embrace digital healthcare without high costs. It is designed to be simple and intuitive, with no technical expertise needed from clinic staff. Also, this simple platform can be accessed from any device, without needing complex setups,” said the release.

The National Health Authority (NHA), as part of its role to increase the adoption of Digital Health and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is signing an MoU with C-DAC. Under the MoU, C-DAC will take care of maintenance and upgradation of the software while NHA will provide facilitation and financial support.

The cost of eSushrut@clinic is estimated to be ₹499 per month for five users. Under the MoU of NHA, a discount of ₹200 will be given making the effective rate to be ₹299 per month. The software will be offered at no cost for the initial three months. Each additional user beyond the included five-user limit will be charged at a rate of ₹50 per user.

Meanwhile, the Aarogya Setu application developed by the Central government during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a national digital public good for contact tracing, risk awareness, and citizen engagement, has now been comprehensively revamped to function as a personal health record (PHR) and citizen-facing digital health application. This redesigned Aarogya Setu 2.0 will also be launched by the Ministry.

Aarogya Setu 2.0 will be a single, citizen-centric digital gateway for accessing health services and a personal health record for individuals and families along with being a national awareness and adoption platform for ABDM services.

The features of the latest version include digitisation of medical health records like lab reports in pdf or images and the creation of a personalised health dashboard using the medical history. Also, users will be able to monitor and manage their health seamlessly with integrated vitals, personalised reminders, goal tracking, and wearable-device syncing for steps, calories, heart rate, and glucose levels.

It will also include the PM-JAY Wallet feature which shows a clear overview of healthcare coverage, including total balance, amount used, and family-wise consumption.

Besides, the updated Aarogya Setu app will help discover nearby healthcare facilities and view real-time blood unit availability via e-RaktKosh for timely access to critical care and ambulance booking, helps users manage and follow prescribed medicine schedules, allow users to search empanelled hospitals offering cashless treatment where users can filter by State, district, specialty, pin code, or facility name, helping them easily find authorised hospitals and access free or subsidised care.