Gauhati Medical College asks patients to bring Aadhaar for ABHA ID

GUWAHATI: Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has been encouraging all the patients visiting them to carry their Aadhaar card as an incentive to generate an Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID.

In this effort, the Indian Government seeks to digitize health services so it could reach all of the citizens of India together.

ABHA ID is part of a mandate by the National Medical Commission to create a unified system to track patient records across public and private healthcare facilities. With an ABHA ID, doctors can access a patient's history quickly and securely, improving continuity of care, even when prior records aren't readily available.

Dr Achyut Baishya, Principal of GMCH, said that the NMC requires OPD registrations to be registered with ABHA IDs. He further stated, "We are complying with this directive from NMC by helping patients to create their ABHA ID. This will make their records available to providers anywhere in the country. It will make it easy to manage care and reduce dependence on paper records.".

Therefore, to meet the high standards given by NMC, GMCH has targeted to register 1,600 patients in ABHA registration per day. According to Dr. Baishya, it is a little tough as most of the patients are coming without Aadhaar cards. The hospital responded to this by deputing staff to enroll the patients on site for their ABHA ID.

For those who did not have Aadhaar cards, the hospital assured not to deny treatment. "We encourage carrying it for convenience, but patient care is paramount; no one will be refused service," Dr Baishya clarified.

ABHA IDs are also anticipated to enhance the quality of healthcare as the provision avails health workers with the comprehensive medical history of a patient, irrespective of the place where treatment was first provided. This, therefore, erases the repeat testing, which in turn promotes accurate diagnosis and continuity in care for follow-up cases or patients sent to other specialist facilities.

For its part, GMCH has been educating patients regarding the advantages of ABHA and reducing the apprehension that could go into sharing Aadhaar. The more awareness increases, the more patients would come prepared with Aadhaar details, thus making the registration easier as well.

On a bigger scale, ABHA compliance would mean that the health care data on the part of the hospital such as GMCH become transparent and uniform and thereby enabling them to meet up with the government's standards and satisfy their requirement for submission of data requirements. Soon after the integration with HMIS, it shall be possible for GMCH to produce much more standardized reports based on ABHA data.

Electronic ID systems, thus, promise multiple benefits to the healthcare ecosystem, and success will depend both on cooperation from patients and administrative support. He further said this changeover has indeed been taxing for many, especially those who may live in rural areas and be relatively new to ABHA or lack access to Aadhaar. GMCH has undertaken measures to overcome these barriers by appointing supplementary staff to guide patients through the process.

Going forward, GMCH will continue to work towards a patient-free experience while adjusting to the NMC standard. Regular awareness sessions for the hospital staff are conducted about the benefits of the digital health records, and hopes are that this will ease the process of easing a much more streamlined, digital healthcare system for all.

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