Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a step forward in the improvement of healthcare system. It is a technology that saves the records of patient’s medical history, physical examination, prescriptions and treatment digitally. But, it is not being widely accepted in India due to the following reasons:
Doctors need to say: Yes Please!
The main reason why Electronic Health Records (EHR) system is not faring well in India is the reluctance of doctors to participate. They are not too enthusiastic about a system that, according to them, constitutes of time-consuming and burdensome writing of prescriptions on computers. In India, doctors see 40-60 patients per day and they have no time to put down the information on computer. But doctors are coming around slowly as big healthcare companies like MEDICOSA work on providing the best and most efficient EHR platforms.
Two ‘I’s for Incredible India and Two for Illiterate India :
A big hurdle in the path of success of EHR system is the illiteracy rate in India, especially when 70% of Indians live in rural areas. IT is hard to get them to understand the technicalities of EHR system when they don’t even have the basic education. Measures are being taken to connect with the people living in villages. If villagers can’t come to you, you go to them. This is exactly what the healthcare system MEDICOSA does; it bridges the gap between rural and urban.
No roots in Grassroots :
The metropolitan cities of India are equipped to welcome these technological changes but the problem lies with the grassroots levels. Government hospitals in small cities lack the resources required to make an initiative like EHR a success. There’s no money to invest on expensive interface, training of staff, migration of information etc.
Government of India, Step Up :
There is a sort of laid-back attitude in the hospital administration when the subject concerns EHR. This is because there is no legal requirement or pressure from government for the implementation of EHR system. Unlike US government, Indian government has not yet made EHR practice mandatory.
Scared of Change :
The new and fresh idea of digitizing medical records is intimidating to people, as people are used to, and they actually prefer the old method of storing data in files and folders. By – Muskan Gupta
For more info : Electronic Health Records India
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