Andhra CM to sign digitally in medical emergencies

Chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, when out of town, would use digital signature to sanction financial assistance in medical emergency cases from the chief minister's relief fund (CMRF).

Medical emergency must be attended to immediately as many patients come with diseases reaching advanced stages that require heart surgeries, kidney transplantation etc, he feels.

This move of the chief minister is backed by a strong system. Supported by a customised software platform with a website designed for a two-way communication, the CMRF team this week was successful in sending sanction orders to hospitals, electronically, on the same day a patient meet the chief minister for assistance, from a 3-day window period earlier.

The chief minister usually tours the state on weekends with overnight stay in districts besides visiting Delhi frequently and hence the need for getting his signature digitally.

"We are working with the officials of the state technology services (APTS) to develop a system using Blackberry instruments as the interface. The chief minister can see the list of applications with all the details including the cost estimation given by the hospitals, decide on the amount to be sanctioned and then put his digital signature using the Blackberry instrument," Kiran Kumar Reddy, personal secretary to the chief minister and in-charge of CMRF, told Business Standard.

Digital signature, which is used to simulate the security properties of a signature in digital, rather than in written form, is so far being used in applications like e-Procurement. Its usage by a chief minister, that too, for the sake of patients waiting for financial assistance is something new.

A patient who gives his application to the chief minister in the morning can see the sanction order on the CMRF website the same afternoon, claims the official.

CMRF in Andhra has assumed a significant proportion both in terms of volume and delivery after the Congress government came to power in May 2004.

In the last three-and-a-half years about Rs 246.5 crore has been sanctioned towards the treatment/surgeries of 78,118 patients as on December 10, 2007, as compared with Rs 35 crore given in the 5-year term of the previous government.

However, with the increase in scale in terms of number of sanctions, the authorities had to address the twin challenges of speedy delivery and check on any misuse and fraud.

"We have developed a customised software while standardising and simplifying various procedures with constant improvisation based on the experience. This software accomplishes several steps in the process of sanction, verification, and communication with the hospitals and patients, including the generation of cheques, automatically," Reddy, who is also a qualified chartered accountant, said.

While dozens of patients and their families meet the chief minister every morning and get the fund, the applications of those in districts come through the MLAs of the respective assembly constituencies.

This software would send an SMS to MLA the moment the CMRF is sanctioned, and generate a letter with a facsimile signature of the chief minister to be delivered by post at the patient's residential address. It then sends the sanction order to the hospital.

Though one needs to have a white ration card (below poverty line) to be eligible for the fund, even a middle-class family can avail of the assistance. Verification too has been made simple. The only question, which the field officer has to find out is whether the amount sanctioned from the CMRF is spent for the intended purpose or not.

A 25-35 per cent of the total estimated cost of treatment is sanctioned under the normal course, while this can go up to 50 per cent of the cost up to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per patient, and also beyond in some cases.

On an average, the chief minister receives about 200 applications daily and accords sanction of amount which ranges between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore every day. And close to 210 referral hospitals identified for treating the patients are assured of receipt of their cheques in 72 hours.

The government does not feel the need for private donations to run the CMRF as state-owned AP Beverages Corporation Limited (APBCL), which is the sole wholesale distributor of IMFL and other drinks containing alcohol in the state, donates 10 paise on every bottle of liquor it sells to the CMRF. This comes to around Rs 30 crore every quarter.

For Kiran Kumar, the knowledge in the applications of Oracle Financials and hands-on experience in developing systems for the World Bank-aided Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme as assistant director of the project, has helped him in giving shape to chief minister's idea.