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Friday, January 16, 2015

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has suggested the introduction of laws and bylaws mandating the adoption of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in the healthcare sector.

“Once the law is imposed, the government should initiate a route of offering an incentives to the paramedics/medical institutions for encouraging the use of ICT in hospital administration, or penalize them strictly if they are hindering the ICT adoption by any means,” said Dr. B.K. Rao, ASSOCHAM chairman, in a statement.

Another suggestion to hasten the use of ICT in the healthcare sector is by linking the patients’ records with PAN or UID (Adhar Car No.), which it said would remove the hassle of providing a unique ID to every patient.

“The government should establish more databases/data repositories for better utilization of ICT in healthcare,” the business group said.

The ASSOCHAM noted that while there were several guidelines on the odoption of ICT in the Indian healthcare sector, there were no regulations that impose mandatory adoption over a period of time.

“Several guidelines and recommendations are mentioned in the Planning Commission’s 12th 5 year Plan, but no strict regimen is there in place imposing the adoption of ICT by the medical institutions,” said Dr. Rao.