Vijayawada: Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced that the digital health records system, being implemented as a pilot in Kuppam under the ‘Sanjeevani’ project, will be extended across the state to prepare health risk profiles of all citizens.
Naidu met the 10-member expert group constituted with national and international experts, including representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss the state govt’s plans of overhauling the entire public health sector by integrating technology. He said the state govt is focusing on preventive care through technology and asked the expert team to present AP’s digital health initiatives at the Global AI Convention in Mumbai.
“The digital health records of all citizens will be ready in one year. By dividing the diseases into categories, the state govt wants to reduce the disease burden on people through preventive measures,” he said. Citing the successful Mustabu program, an experimental initiative in tribal schools, he said the govt is working towards improving health outcomes through awareness and early intervention.
Former WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan explained the importance of adequate nutrition in preventive care. Former Union health secretary Arti Ahuja called for identifying root causes of disease and expressed concern over the rise in dialysis cases among youth, mainly attributed to pollution. Yik-Ying Teo from the National University of Singapore said digital health records and AI will strengthen delivery systems. While Harvard public health professor Margaret Kruk lauded AP’s use of Hepatitis vaccination and its positive outcomes, Srikanth Nadhamuni said AI-enabled services are becoming central to public health systems. AIG Hospitals chairman D Nageswara Reddy stressed the need for awareness among children.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation country director Archana Vyas said the foundation is working with AP to strengthen health systems, adding that a health secretariat would be set up for monitoring soon.
