“What’s up, Doc?” will soon become a regular phrase for Andhra Pradesh residents as the state government introduced the ‘family doctor’ concept on January 27, 2023, reported Hindustan Times. Starting from March 1 this year, doctors will visit villages across the state twice a month to “strengthen the public health system”. The patient and family data collected by the doctors will be digitised in a mobile application, furthering the government’s initiative to digitise health data. MediaNama’s take: The last we checked, the central government has already tasked Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and anganwadi workers with the collection and retention of people’s health data. The government even promised tablets to ease their troubles. So, why is the Andhra Pradesh government suddenly asking doctors to collect the data? As per the report, the digitised data will be uploaded to the Central government’s Ayushman Bharath digital mission through their health ID. Rather than answering questions, this creates more confusion. Are ASHAs and anganwadi workers to give up their data collection responsibility? Which app will be used to record data? For how long will the data be retained, if it’s to be updated on a bi-monthly basis? The state government has a lot to answer. Pilot attempts of the family doctor system: In October 2022, the government had implemented this idea as a pilot project in Tirupati to give monthly medical services at the doorstep of 2,000 people. Under this project, doctors conduct 14 types of blood tests when visiting homes. Based on…
