Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Mar 4: Aiming for transparency and accountability, the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department is building a citizen’s portal to provide information to the general public on the daily duty rosters of doctors, as well as the work done and other required details of hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir.
According to information provided to Excelsior, the H&ME Department will set up an interactive portal where people can find the duty rosters of the doctors-who are the doctors available for a particular day at the hospital-at any time. The duty rosters will be updated frequently for the information of the general public.
The portal, which is currently under development and is scheduled to launch soon, will also have detailed figures presenting the work done at the specific hospital, which will then help the authorities in understanding any grey areas, to address the common complaints of the general public regarding the non-availability of doctors at the hospital and the lack of efficiency of the healthcare facilities.
Details suggest the work performed by the hospitals will be apparent once the specifics of that activity are kept in a consolidated form on the open platform. The idea is being hailed as a game-changer since it will allow the public to learn in real-time what is occurring in any hospital, whether it be a Public Health Centre (PHC), Sub-Centre, Sub-District Hospital, or any tertiary care facility.
“All of our residents need access to high-quality healthcare, and we’re working to hold the system more responsible to the general public. A step in that direction is the use of digital interventions,” Secretary H&ME Bhupinder Kumar told Excelsior.
By making the portal accessible to the general public, the authorities hope to ensure transparency and accountability in the operation of the healthcare system across J&K as well as give the common man a glimpse into the healthcare delivery system.
“Citizens have a right to information, responsible, and transparent healthcare administration, and the LG government is committed to upholding that right. Via the portal, we will provide citizens with the opportunity to browse around the system and determine for themselves what is going on,” Dr Shafqat Khan, Additional Mission Director AB-Digital Health Mission, J&K said.
Additionally, the website will be connected to the Health Management Information System (HMIS), which will guarantee the necessary data feeding to the portal on the number of patients who visited a specific hospital, the number of registration, and other details. According to the details, this add-on will give users access to a dashboard that contains all the necessary details, ensuring that the website eventually grows to be a significant information platform.