• Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has said in order to provide good health facilities to rural people, about 600 health centres, including primary health centres, would be connected to the e-Upchar system.
• In the review meeting of the department, Vij told the officers concerned to soon develop a mobile app to help connect with this system so that any person could take the doctor’s appointment while sitting at home.
• Also, it should be ensured that the test reports of patients are sent online or through SMS. Besides, records of medicines and tests advised to patients by the doctor should also be made available online.
• At present, the facility was available at 56 health centres, including 22 district hospitals, eight sub-district hospitals, 11 CHCs, 10 PHCs, one AYUSH college and three medical colleges. 

What is e-Upchar?

• Under the e-Upchar facility, patients will be given unique identification numbers (UIN) so that their health records can be accessed online at any civil hospital of the state. It will reduce the waiting time of patients, besides facilitating efficient management of queues.
• To maintain e-records of patients, the state government had in 2015 decided to start the e-Upchar facility in government hospitals. Initially, it was started in Panchkula and was later launched in other districts also.
• The administration started the facility in the Civil Hospital and initiated the process to maintain e-records of patients. The patients have either to produce their Aadhaar cards or the mobile phone numbers for the unique identification numbers. After the generation of an UIN, the doctor will enter the details of the patients related to diseases and medicines in computer, which can be seen in any civil hospital in the state.
• The patients would get X-ray reports online. There would be no need to take print outs of X-rays, as doctors in government hospitals could see them online with the help of the UIN, which would reduce the waiting time of patients. The facility would also save money of the government on X-ray films, city scan and ultrasound reports.
• All lab investigations could be uploaded on the e-Upchar portal. It would also help in making the hospital move towards paperless working.