Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, chaired a meeting with the health & medical education (H&ME) department to assess progress under the Ayushman bharat digital mission (ABDM) and review admissions in nursing and paramedical courses. The meeting, attended by senior officials including the Secretary H&ME, MD NHM, Principals of medical Colleges, and directors of health services, focused on digitizing health services and ensuring secure and efficient access to healthcare.
The Chief Secretary urged the department to maximise the potential of ABDM by digitizing health records securely and developing electronic health records (EHR) for long-term preservation. He highlighted the importance of these records in enhancing medical diagnoses based on a patient’s history. Additionally, he recommended launching a public awareness campaign, using bulk SMS to inform people about the benefits of ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) IDs.
Dulloo also stressed the need for the periodic updating of health institution and professional registries, ensuring the availability and types of medical services provided by each. He emphasised covering all outpatient department (OPD) admissions under ABDM and extending QR code-based registration systems to more hospitals. The ultimate goal, he noted, is to transition to a paperless healthcare system by creating comprehensive EHRs for all patients.
Secretary H&ME, Dr. Syed Abid Rashid Shah, provided an overview of ABDM’s progress, revealing that 90.9 lakh ABHA IDs have been created for the region’s targeted population of around 1.36 crore. Additionally, Health Facility Registry (HFR) now includes all public health facilities and empanelled private institutions, while the Health Professionals Registry (HPR) has records of 6,448 doctors and 4,488 nurses. Notably, 105 health facilities have adopted the “scan & share” facility for OPD admissions, generating over 53.99 lakh tokens.
The meeting also addressed the introduction of M.Sc Nursing courses in J&K. The Government Nursing College in Srinagar offers 25 M.Sc Nursing seats, which have been filled through the BOPEE process. Further, plans are underway to introduce the M.Sc Nursing program at Jammu’s Nursing College once the first batch of Post Basic B.Sc Nursing graduates completes their course. Across the Union Territory, a total of 233 M.Sc Nursing seats are available in 8 public and private institutions.
Additionally, 49 Nursing Colleges offer 2,885 B.Sc Nursing seats, 19 Paramedical institutions provide 1,660 seats, and 6 B-Pharma institutions offer 373 seats. As of now, 206 out of 233 M.Sc Nursing seats have been filled, along with 3,150 B.Sc Nursing seats, 334 B.Pharmacy seats, and 627 B.Sc Paramedical seats.
This review highlighted the ongoing efforts to enhance healthcare infrastructure, improve digital accessibility, and increase the availability of skilled professionals in J&K’s health sector.