India gets its 1st ever national healthcare facility registry by Modi govt; another feather in health sector’s cap
It’s no less than a feather in the cap of India’s health sector. In a major development, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda on Tuesday launched the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR). Noteworthy, it’s India’s 1st ever national healthcare facility registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare establishments. Also, JP Nadda released the National Health Profile (NHP) 2018. It’s being prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI). Moreover, the e-book (digital version) of the annual document was also released. Basically, NHP covers demographic, socio-economic, health status and health finance indicators, along with comprehensive information on health infrastructure and human resources in health.
Speaking at the function, Nadda said, “Data is an important source of navigation. It helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses and it is also an important means to strategize. Good compiled data enables the policymakers to make evidence-based policies and aids effective implementation of various schemes.”
“National Health Resource Repository should have inbuilt process for updating the data so that the system is relevant for times to come,” Nadda advised. Nadda stated that the Health Profile is a very important tool as it has helped in designing various programmes. Nadda cited the examples of initiatives like Free Drugs and Diagnostics and Mission Parivar Vikas that have benefitted from the Health Profiles.
According to a PIB release, “The vision of the NHRR Project is to strengthen evidence-based decision making and develop a platform for citizen and provider-centric services by creating a robust, standardized and secured IT-enabled repository of India’s healthcare resources. NHRR will be the ultimate platform for comprehensive information of both, Private and Public healthcare establishments including Railways, ESIC, Defense and Petroleum healthcare establishments. Under the Collection of Statistics Act 2008, over 20 lakh healthcare establishments like hospitals, doctors, clinics, diagnostic labs, pharmacies and nursing homes would be enumerated under this census capturing data on over 1,400 variables.”
“The Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) has actively engaged with key stakeholders including leading Associations, Allied Ministries, and several private healthcare service providers. This resource repository shall enable advanced research towards ongoing & forthcoming healthcare challenges arising from other determinants of health like – disease, environment etc,” the release added.
As per the details available, “Approximately 4,000 trained professionals are dedicatedly working to approach every healthcare establishment for information collection. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the project technology partner adhering to paramount Data Security.”
What are the key expected outcomes of the NHRR project?
The key expected outcomes of the NHRR project are to provide comprehensive data on all health resources including private doctors, health facilities, chemists, and diagnostics labs, establish a National Health Resource Repository for evidence-based decision making – aligned with Digital India mission. It shall also enhance the coordination between central and state government for optimization of health resources, making ‘live’ and realistic state Project Implementation Plans (PIPs) and improving the accessibility of data at all levels, including State Head of Departments, thus, decentralize the decision making at district and state level.
