Bengaluru: Karnataka government has approved the phased rollout of SAMASTA, a digital platform aimed at replacing the mountains of manual records maintained by ASHA workers, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), health inspectors and other community health workers, in a move expected to cut their data-entry workload by around 75%.The government order issued on Thursday said the platform will digitise registers maintained by field health staff at Ayushman Arogya Kendras, primary health centres and other health facilities. The move follows the announcement in the 2026-27 state Budget to digitise health department field staff records through the SAMASTA mobile application.SAMASTA will simplify the 485 data elements in the ASHA diary to 134 key data points, reducing duplication and enabling data to be captured at source only once. The platform will work both online and offline and integrate family IDs, Aadhaar-based verification, Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs and other government digital health systems.The platform will also be integrated with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the national digital health ecosystem. The state plans to roll it out in phases after training staff, while ensuring data security, privacy and compliance with ABDM guidelines.A pilot in Udupi saw 95% beneficiary registration, 85% completion of health check-ups and more than four lakh ABHA IDs linked, according to the government order.Inset: Rs 10 crore for mental health services in Kalyana KarnatakaThe state has also approved Rs 10.04 crore for expanding the Taluk Mental Health Programme across 31 taluks in the Kalyana Karnataka Region, covering Raichur, Yadgir, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Koppal, for 2025-26 and 2026-27. Bidar will have nine taluks under the programme, Kalaburagi seven, while Raichur, Yadgir and Koppal will have five each. The programme aims to strengthen access to mental health services, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
