Digital ecosystem for health cards remains a challenge

Building a digital ecosystem in hospitals at upazila level is among the major challenges in the smooth operation of the proposed health cards.
A digital ecosystem connects hospitals, patients and medicine corners under a single database.
The government's plan to launch health cards to bring healthcare services under an automated system requires a digital database, according to health experts.
"If we can build such a database, our health system will go a step further to provide modern health care," said Prof Syed Abdul Hamid of the Institute of Health Economics at Dhaka University.
Bringing all hospitals, including those in rural areas, under automation is a big challenge in the existing healthcare system in the country, he told the FE.
"Furthermore, health staffers will require necessary training to prepare them accordingly," he observed.
Instead of collecting patients' personal information repeatedly, the DGHS can use the same from Covid-19 vaccine cards where people have already provided their information, according to Prof Hamid.
"Instead of doing similar job repeatedly, we have to develop a single system or database to ease work," urged the health systems analyst. Having an automation system is mandatory for cards, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also thinks, as it expects to pilot the scheme in January 2024.
The DGHS has sought Tk 17 billion from the government to build an automation system in hospitals countrywide to have the health cards functional.
"The DGHS has already sent a financial proposal to the Planning Commission," said Dr Shahadat Hossain, director of the Management Information System (MIS) at DGHS. The proposal, however, is expected to get government response in the next government as regular activities of the election-time government have become limited by the Election Commission, he added.
"We've concluded all necessary testing. A central automation system is almost done," he told the FE.
"We'll impart training to doctors and other health staffers. And, once the patient profiling is ready then the job will be easy."
Like the personal information on the national identity card, this card will contain healthcare information. The MIS is implementing the scheme.
The "Shared Health Record" initiative is a move to share health information between all public and private health institutions and prepare a single platform for storing health information of Bangladeshis.
To avail a health card, citizens aged above 18 will require their NID cards and those below 18 their birth certificates. Cards are available free of charge.
The first step is to go to a hospital with an NID copy or birth registration number to obtain a 'Health ID'.

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