Transforming Healthcare: Digitalization of India’s Hospital Services by E-Hospital

Transforming Healthcare: Digitalization of India's Hospital Services

KEY POINTS

● E-Hospital is a cloud-based hospital management information system (HMIS) that aims to improve the delivery of healthcare services to citizens.

● The number of on-boarded hospitals shows a general upward trend, with some fluctuations. Starting from 6 hospitals in 2015-16, it peaked at 1043 in 2022-23, before slightly decreasing to 767 in 2023-24.

● E-hospital transactions have seen a dramatic increase over the years. From about 1,566,577 transactions in 2015-16, the number skyrocketed to over 466,294,338 in 2023-24.

● The number of ORS (Online Registration System) enabled hospitals has also grown, albeit with some fluctuations. Starting at 39 in 2015-16, it reached a peak of 565 in 2023-24.

E-Hospital is a cloud-based hospital management information system (HMIS) that aims to improve the delivery of healthcare services to citizens. It is developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as part of the Digital India initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. This initiative has several objectives. First of all, E-Hospital offers a unified digital platform for communication between physicians, hospitals, and patients. Second, It provides an online patient portal with services like online appointment booking, lab report access, and blood availability details. Third, It offers hospitals specialised technical assistance through specialised call centres and helpdesk. Finally, It is a built-on cloud architecture that can administer several hospitals at once. It incorporates clinical, administrative, financial, and insurance-related tasks and covers the full OPD/IPD treatment cycle.

The number of on-boarded hospitals shows a general upward trend, with some fluctuations. In 2015-16, the total number of on-boarded hospitals in this cloud-based HMIS was only 6, which peaked at 1043 in 2022-23 before slightly decreasing to 767 in 2023-24. This overall growth indicates a substantial push towards digital integration in India’s healthcare system, improving the efficiency and accessibility of health services. On the other hand, the total number of e-hospital transactions has rapidly increased from 1,566,577 in 2015-16 to 466,294,338 in 2023-24. This exponential growth suggests a rapid adoption of digital health records and electronic transactions, which could significantly streamline hospital operations and improve patient care. The number of ORS (Online Registration System) enabled hospitals has also grown rapidly during this period. In 2015-16, the total number of ORS-enabled hospitals was only 39; within nine years, this number reached to 565. This trend indicates an overall increase in hospitals offering online registration services. 

Fig: 1

ORS appointments have also shown remarkable growth during this period, reflecting increased patient adoption of online booking systems. It is evident that from 2015-16 to 2023-24, the total ORS appointments rose from 118,952 to 8,830,876 in 2023-24. However, there was a noticeable drop in growth rate in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting regular hospital visits, followed by a recovery and another peak of about 7,193,180 in 2022-23. The figure for 2023-24 appears again unusually low (fig: 1).

Overall, this insight illustrates India’s substantial progress in digitalizing its healthcare system. Over the years, the massive increase in e-hospital transactions and ORS appointments suggests a transformative shift towards digital health management. This transition likely improves efficiency, reduces paperwork, and enhances the patient experience by offering more convenient ways to interact with healthcare services. However, the fluctuations in some metrics, particularly in recent years, may indicate ongoing challenges in implementation or adoption, possibly influenced by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic or varying levels of digital literacy across different regions of India.

References

  1. E-Hospital. (n.d.). https://ehospital.gov.in/ehospitalsso/.
  2. ist.metadata.agency. (2021, February 10). 420 e-Hospitals established under Digital India initiative: Ravi Shankar Prasad. Mint. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/420-e-hospitals-established-under-digital-india-initiative-ravi-shankar-prasad-11612937028634.html
  3. vikaspedia Domains. (n.d.). https://vikaspedia.in/e-governance/digital-india/e-health-portal

 



About Author



 

Pankaj Chowdhury is a former Research Assistant at the International Economic Association. He holds a Master’s degree in Demography & Biostatistics from the International Institute for Population Sciences and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Visva-Bharati University. His primary research interests focus on exploring new dimensions of in computational social science and digital demography.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of 360 Analytika.

Acknowledgement: The author extends his gratitude to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for providing data support.

This article is posted by Sahil Shekh, Editor-in-Chief at 360 Analytika.

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