Health cards in the offing

The government has planned to introduce health identity cards aiming to bring the healthcare services under an automated system.
The move will make the healthcare system easier through making citizens' health profiles, Dr Shahadat Hossain, director of MIS at the Directorate General of Health Services, told the FE on Friday.
His department- management information system (MIS)- will implement the initiative.
Piloting of providing the health ID card to patients of National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) and government health institutions and hospitals of Manikganj and Gopalganj districts are at the initial stage, he said.
"We have issued some 52,000 health ID cards to internal staff of the health institutes under the piloting to examine the progress," he added.
Like the personal information on the national identity card, this card will contain healthcare information.
The "Shared Health Record" initiative is a move to share health information among all public and private health institutions and to prepare a single platform for storing health information of Bangladeshi citizens.
To avail a health card, citizens above 18 years will require only a national identity card and those below 18 years will need a birth certificate. Cards will be available without any charge.
The first step is to go to the hospital with a copy of the national identity card or birth registration number while receiving treatment at the hospital to obtain the health ID.
This digital system will be started in all other government health institutions and hospitals of the country very soon.
Private health organisations and hospitals will also be covered by this digital system soon, DGHS discloses.
Every citizen will have their own "Health ID" number, it added, saying the coverage will make the diagnosis faster, improve the quality of medical care and make the medical system more orderly.
The health card will help create a digital database which will ensure keeping previous treatment and examination records safe and patients will not have to carry any paper as the test reports will be sent to the email address.
Patients can take appointment at the hospital online from home.
A dedicated website for health cards is going to be launched by the government very soon where people can register for a card remotely.

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