'Govt working to create unique patient identity'

To avoid duplication of data about patients, government is working towards an integrated health information programme aimed at creating unique patient identity through the National Identification Number and Aadhaar, a top official said today.
"Government is working towards creating an integrated health information programme that can create unique patient identity through the National Identification Number and Aadhaar to avoid duplication of data," K B Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare said at a summit here.
The summit highlighted that the doctor-patient ration in India is still very low, and IT technologies like Cloud can help bridge this gap by offering specialised services such as teleconsultation and computerised monitoring.

Citing shortage of doctors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday announced raising the retirement age of government doctors to 65 years and said the Union Cabinet will give its nod to the decision this week.