Minutes of the National consultation

on setting up of
National eHealth Authority (NeHA)
held on 04th April, 2016

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW),

Government of India

Place: AIIMS Board Room, New Delhi

Time: 10:00 A.M.

 National Consultation on National eHealth Authority (NeHA)
Held on 4th April, 2016

Minutes of Meeting
A National Consultation on National eHealth Authority (NeHA) was held under the
chairmanship of Secretary (HFW) on 4th April, 2016 at AIIMS, New Delhi as per agenda given
in Annexure 1. Senior Officers from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), DeitY
and representatives from more than 23 States attended the meeting. There were also
representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Association bodies (IMA, FICCI,
NATHEALTH and NASSCOM), private healthcare providers and healthcare IT experts along
with vendors participated in the meeting. List of participants is at Annexure – 2.

Meeting Proceedings

The national level meeting started at 10.00 A.M. with felicitation of guests with flower bouquets
followed by Shri Sunil Sharma, Joint Secretary(eGov) giving a welcome address with a brief
introduction to the attendees about the Vision and Goals of National eHealth Authority
(NeHA).

Important Points discussed in the meeting:-

1. Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary (HFW) suggested putting all modules on cloud and
mentioned that such work is already going on. He said that a connected platform is being
created which will be ready by June 2016. He also said that by this year end, an EHR
standard system would be ready. He mentioned that NeHA will look on the overall policy, on
how IT can be clubbed with Healthcare Systems along with MCTS and HMIS.

He mentioned that nowadays, we have many mobile health applications which are
successfully using Information Technology to monitor many diseases. He emphasized that
NeHA will be an important body and it will look into overall policy standards to bring IT and
health care together.

2. Dr. Aruna Sharma, Secretary (DeitY) emphasized on the setting up of a controlling body
which directs hospitals across the country to maintain their patient’s health records in
standardized electronic format. She also said that appropriate IT management systems need
to be developed and put in place which can take care of the patients. She said that DeitY is
willing to support the MoHFW in all possible ways for achieving Digital Health.

3. Shri C.K. Mishra, AS & MD mentioned that the Indian healthcare system is very complex
system and technology is the only way to fill the existing gaps between the patients and the
medical system. He mentioned about three major challenges in health sector: Making health
facility accessible, affordable and maintain the quality of service.

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 He also said that technology is a good supplement for Human resource and knowledge and
will play a big role in coming future in the Healthcare domain. In order to handle critical
factor, i.e., management of Healthcare in our country, he further emphasized the need to have
strong IT systems in place.

4. Shri Sunil Sharma JS (eGov) said that we need to encourage EHR creation across the
country. There is need to create a unique code in order to maintain online medical record for
each person in India. He highlighted that there are over 30 countries who are building robust
laws and structures for adoption of EHR standards. He then emphasized that with the goal of
development of EHR standards, the suggestions from participants are being considered for
inclusion.

NeHA is proposed to be set up to specify standards, regulate and promote IT initiatives in

health domain and establish eHealth systems for enabling inter-operability of data across
hospitals.

5. Prof. M.C. Mishra (Director, AIIMS) said that nowadays patients all over the country are
generally misusing antibiotics by taking antibiotics without consultation from doctors. He
then mentioned about existing system in place at AIIMS which enables to track antibiotic
usage by the patients undergoing treatment at AIIMS. With such system in place, they were
able to bring down misuse of antibiotics.

He also said that lots of opportunities in collating the EHR records exist in India these days
and interoperability of EHR can lead to tremendous time & cost savings for both patients and
the health set-ups. He encouraged the use of EHR systems with necessary technology for the
benefit of people in long run.

6. Shri K.B. Agarwal, AS (eGov), mentioned the first issue that needs to be addressed is the
absence of Aadhaar numbers across the nation. He said that unless we also have unique
identifiers for each Health facility as well in place, we cannot move forward successfully.

He emphasized for making the whole system interoperable and also mentioned that a
National Identification Number (NIN) process has been started wherein all government run
health facilities will be assigned a unique identification number. He suggested that EHR in a
standard format should be developed and deployed throughout the country by providing an
enabling environment.

He said about an upcoming technology – Internet of Things (IoT) should be made available
at the hospital level. He also mentioned that National Law School of India University from
Bengaluru has been looped in to form a policy and legal framework.

7. Dr. Rajesh Narwal (WHO, India) mentioned about the basic supporting pillars of
Healthcare and role of ICT in providing access of quality healthcare to everybody. For this
ICT can be a key enabler. He emphasized that critical gap of human resources need to be
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 filled up at the first level. Coming to numbers, he pointed out that there are more than 100
crores of people in India and thus there is strong need for integration between the existing as
well as newly developed health systems.

On Indian Healthcare System he said that we need to understand and develop a unique
model of our own which suits our country’s population. He also emphasized on the need for
interoperability between healthcare systems across the country for a seamless transition
between government and private healthcare providers.

8. Shri Sunil Sharma, JS (eGov) mentioned about standard set up for achieving
interoperability. He mentioned that first level of consultation in this matter was done in
March 2016. Approach and policy framework and policy framework needs to be evolved for
making use of ICT in the Health sector. He specifically emphasized for development of
interoperable mechanism between states and different health facilities.

9. Prof. S.N. Sarbadhikari, Project Director, CHI presented the Concept Note outlining the
Aim, Vision and Goal of NeHA:

Aim: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is taking various initiatives in
the areas related to use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in
Healthcare. In order to guide and support India’s journey in eHealth and consequent
realization of benefits of ICT intervention in Health sector in an orderly way, the Ministry
proposes to set up National eHealth Authority (NeHA) as a statutory body for promotional,
regulatory and standards related roles.

Vision: Attainment of high quality health services for citizen through cost-effective and
secure use of information and communication technologies in health and health-related
fields.

Goal: To ensure development and promotion of eHealth ecosystem in India for enabling the
organization, management and provision of effective people-centric health services to all in
an efficient, cost effective and transparent manner.

Prof. Sarbadhikari mentioned that till 2015, we had received 500 comments and suggestions
on NeHA, which were very useful for further improvement. He also explained about
National eHealth policy for health adoption in the country which includes data management,
privacy and security, policy guidelines for health records of patients visiting the health
facilities.

10. Dr. Rajesh Narwal (WHO) discussed on how eHealth and ICT is transforming healthcare
domain and mentioned that in 2005, there were 51 terms associated with eHealth as per
WHO records. He said that scope of eHealth needs to be broadened i.e. for the domains
which fall under eHealth. Dr. Narwal also discussed importance of critical inputs like

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 political & financial support, inter- departmental cooperation and collaboration between
states for functioning of regulatory body.

11. Shri Rajendra Pratap Gupta gave suggestions on standardization of EHR at hospitals, state
and micro level. He said nation-wide guidelines should be in place for EHR standards. He
also gave an important suggestion on renaming National eHealth Authority to "National
Digital Health Authority", to keep in line with "Digital India" and also to broaden the scope
of the Authority, so that mHealth and Tele-Health also could be included in its purview.

12. Mr. B S Bedi, Advisor - CDAC discussed about user acceptability of EHR. He emphasized
that for an EHR system to run successfully, it should be made user friendly so as to be
acceptable to Doctors / paramedics who would be main operators / users.

13. Ms. Manisha Mantri, Pune explained how ICT can help effectively in storing, recording
and receiving the sharable and transferable medical records. She briefed the participants on
EHR standards, structured terminology, coding systems, Healthcare information exchange,
security, privacy and emphasized much on data security and privacy along with making the
whole system on EHR.

14. During the discussion several delegates put forth their views. Shri K. B. Agarwal, AS
(eGov.) MoHFW summarized the discussion points observing that there has been consensus
amongst the participants on the proposal for creation of the National e-Health Authority
(NeHA) which would lay and regulate standards in the e-Health domain and catalyze and
promote e-Health initiatives in the country.

15. Presentations of eHealth applications were given by four States (Tamil Nadu, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, and, Kerala). The Panel was chaired by Shri Sunil Sharma, JS (eGov),
MoHFW and panellists were: i) Shri Sunil Bhushan, STD (NIC), (ii) Shri Srinivasan
Ramakrishnan, Advisor, NISG and (iii) Shri Jitendra Arora, Director (eGov), MoHFW.

States highlighted the challenges being faced by them during carrying out eHealth
initiatives. They echoed the sentiments that improved healthcare delivery can be improved
substantially by providing medical personnel with better access to data, faster data retrieval
and higher quality of data.

16. The meeting evolved with Vote of Thanks delivered by Shri Ankit Tripathi, Additional
Director, CHI.

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Annexure 1: Meeting Schedule

Registration 10:00 – 10:30

Welcome Address Shri Sunil Sharma, JS (eGov), MoHFW 10:30 – 10:40
Address Shri C. K. Mishra, AS&MD, MoHFW 10:40 – 10:50
Address Dr. Aruna Sharma, Secretary, DeitY 10:50 – 11:00
Keynote Address Shri B. P. Sharma, Secretary (HFW), 11:00 – 11:10
MoHFW
Presidential Address Shri J.P. Nadda, Hon’ble Union Health 11:10 – 11:25
and Family Welfare Minister
Tea Break 11:25 – 11:40
Presentation on: (i) Prof. S. N. Sarbadhikari, Project
- Concept Note of NeHA Director, CHI 11:40 – 11:50
- Standards in Health (ii) Representative of iNRC (CDAC, 11:50 – 12:00
Informatics PUNE)

Panel discussion and Panel Chair : 12:00 – 14:00

stakeholder consultation on Shri K. B. Agarwal, AddI.
NeHA : Secretary(F&D), MoHFW
- Role Panel members:
- Structure (i)Shri Sunil Sharma, JS (eGov),
- Road Map MoHFW
(ii)Prof S. N. Sarbadhikari, Project
Director, CHI
(iii)Representative, WHO India
(iv) Representative, DeitY
(v) Representative, NISG
(vi) Shri B. S. Bedi, Advisor- CDAC
Lunch 14:00 - 14:30
Experiences of States in Presentation by States 14:30 - 16:00
implementation of Hospital (Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana,
Information System (HIS) Himachal Pradesh, Kerala)
and Interoperability of EHR Panel Chair:
a. Shri Manoj Jhalani,
JS(Policy), MoHFW
b. Shri Sunil Sharma, JS (eGov),
MoHFW
Vote of Thanks Shri Ankit Tripathi, Additional Director, 16:00
CHI

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Annexure 2 : List of Attendees

S.No. NAME DESINGNATION ORGANISATION /

STATE
1. Shri B.P. Sharma Secretary (H&FW) MoHFW, New Delhi
2. Dr. Aruna Sharma Secretary , DeitY MCIT, New Delhi
3. Shri C K Mishra AS & MD (NHM) MoHFW, New Delhi
4. Shri K B Agarwal Addl Secy (F and D) MoHFW, New Delhi
5. Prof. M. C. Misra Director, AIIMS New Delhi
6. Dr. B D Athani Spl. DGHS MoHFW, New Delhi
7. Shri Sunil Sharma JS (e-Gov) MoHFW MoHFW, New Delhi
8. Dr. Om Prakash Principal Secretary Uttarakhand
9. Shri Jitendra Arora Director (e-Gov) MoHFW, New Delhi
10. Dr. K K Agarwal Hony. Secy. General IMA HQrs., New
Delhi
11. Shri Rajendra Pratap Policy Advisor Mumbai
Gupta
12. Dr. Rajesh Narwal Technical Officer- Health WHO (India)
Systems Stewardship &
Regulations
13. Shri B.S. Bedi Advisor C-DAC, Pune
14. Shri S. Ramakrishnan Advisor NISG, New Delhi
15. Shri Sudhir Saxena Vice President NISG, New Delhi
16. Dr. Jayanta K Das Director NIHFW, New Delhi
17. Shri Rajesh Gera DDG NIC, New Delhi
18. Prof. S.N Sarbadhikari Project Director, CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
19. Dr. S. B. Bhattacharyya Head- Health Informatics TCS
20. Shri Sunil Kumar Senior Technical Director NIC, New Delhi
21. Mrs. Manisha Mantri iNRC, C- DAC Pune
22. Dr. Surya Bali Nodal officer Madhya Pradesh
23. Dr. Karan Vir Singh Apollo Hospitals New Delhi
24. Mr. Arvind Apollo Hospitals Hyderabad
Shivaramakrisnan
25. Shri Anjan bose NatHealth New Delhi
26. Shri Ankit Tripathi Addl Director, CHI New Delhi
27. Shri Gaurav Sharma Deputy Director, CHI New Delhi
28. Dr. Sanjay Gupta Nodal Officer, CHI NIHFW
29. Dr. J.K. Shivdasani Asst. Nodal Officer, CHI NIHFW
30. Dr. C. Jayan Joint director - e-health Kerala
31. Smt. Sowjanya Mission Director, NHM Karnataka
32. Shri Sandeep Chopra Scientist NIC, New Delhi
33. Dr. Subodh Head Surgery AIIMS, New Delhi
34. Shri Ajay Rampal STD, NIC New Delhi
35. Shri B.B. Pawar Deputy Director Maharashtra
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36. Shri Sameer K. Sinha Commissioner & Assam
Secretary Health
Department
37. Dr. N.V. Kamatt Pr. Advisor IMA (HQ)
38. Dr. Pratap Kumar Sahu NHSRC
39. Dr. UC Sinha Jharkhand
40. Shri B K. Datta DS. MoHFW, New Delhi
41. Shri Abhishek Jain Manager- HLS Wipro
42. Shri Amit Kumar AD (e-Gov) MoHFW, New Delhi
43. Dr. K. H. Assam
44. Sm. Garima Chandak
45. Dr. M.S. Chalga ICMR
46. Dr. Sunil Srivastava DG (MH) Uttar Pradesh
47. Dr. Meenakshi
48. Shri Amarjeet Singh Director DGHS
49. Dr. M.P. Sharma Govt. of Haryana
50. Mr. Anirudh Sen FICCI New Delhi
51. Dr. A. K. Chaudhary AD. IT Lucknow
52. Shri Sunil Gupta HMIS - IT Uttar Pradesh
53. Dr. M.P. Sharma DGHS Office Haryana
54. Dr.Vishwaajeet Singh DGHS Office Haryana
55. Shri Rajesh Sihag DGHS Office Haryana
56. Dr. Neeraj Kharwal MD, NHM Uttar Pradesh
57. Dr. Neeta Kumar MBBS. MD, ICMR
58. Major Sandeep Sharma Ministry of Defense; New Delhi
IAMI
59. Lt. Ankur Gupta AIIMS; IAMI New Delhi
60. Shri Ashish Sharma MoHFW New Delhi
61. Dr. N.V. Kamatt
62. Dr. Monika Rana Addl. Secretary GNGT
63. Shri Piyush Chaturvedi Sr. Manager Mitra India Ltd.
64. Sm. Vibha Mehra Head, BD Wipro
65. Shri Surinder Pal
66. Mr. Harish
67. Shri Debasis Bose West Bengal
68. Dr. Rajesh Guleri
69. Dr. D.K. Pandu
70. Shri V.K. Srivastava
71. Dr. Senthil Kumar Tamil Nadu
72. Shri Manojit Bose
73. Shri RC Rawat Rajasthan
74. Shri Sumesh Singh Rajasthan
75. Shri C.S. Gururani
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76. Shri Tarun Goyal
77. Dr. RM Jotkar
78. Dr. BD Pawar
79. Dr. C. Murli K. Kumar Advisor Health Niti Ayog
80. Dr. Ritesh Mondal Andaman & Nicobar
81. Dr. Probin Chnadra Deputy Director of Manipur
Arambam Health
82. Dr. Ahanthem Victor Block HMIS officer Manipur
Singh
83. Shri B.B. Mittal Dy. Director - Rural Gujarat
Health
84. Mr. Shahnawaz Khan Project officer - IT Gujarat
Rathod
85. Dr. Ganesh Nodal officer Karnataka
86. Shri Suren Kumar AIIMS – Technical Staff New Delhi
87. Shri M. Harish AIIMS – Technical Staff New Delhi
88. Shri Bobby Kumar AIIMS – Technical Staff New Delhi
89. Dr. D.K. Pandu TLSHSRC, NHM Odisha
90. Dr. Sampooran Singh DHS Chandigarh, Punjab

91. Mr. Samuel MIS Manager Mizoram

Lalhmingmawia,

92. Mr. Renbur L. Himo Mizoram

93. Sm. Rajbala Telemedicine AIIMS New Delhi

94. Dr. Anita Bhutia DD/ RCH Sikkim
95. Shri K. Srinivas STC. NHM Chhattisgarh
Subramanyam
96. Dr. M. Srinivas Rao State program officer, Telangana
NHM
97. Shri B. Satyanarayan IT - department Telangana
98. Dr. K. Ravi Krishna IIHFW Telangana
Sharma
99. Dr. Amit Sukla Dy. Director - Rural MG education
health
100. Mrs. Anand Sharma Consultant Uttarakhand

101. Ms. Charu khattar DA ( e- gov) Delhi

102. Dr. Salim Director Health VISK
103. Smt. Palak VS
104. Dr. Suha Jharkhhand
105. Shri Pankaj Rahi Chandigarh
106. Dr. Anurupa Roy Associate Consultant MoHFW, New Delhi
107. Mr. Saurabh Kumar Associate Consultant NIHFW, New Delhi
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108. Ms. Indu Bala Associate Consultant MoHFW, New Delhi
109. Mr. Biju Raj Associate Consultant MoHFW, New Delhi
110. Dr. J Panday CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
111. Dr. Eswar Das CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
112. Dr. M Alam Khan CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
113. Dr. S Gupta CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
114. Dr. A Rastogi CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
115. Ms. Ginny Bansal CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
116. Ms. Antika Jain CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
117. Ms. Richa Verma CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
118. Ms. Parul CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
119. Mr. Yunus CHI NIHFW, New Delhi
120. Mr. Vijay Krishan CHI NIHFW, New Delhi

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