New Delhi: The government is set to introduce a digital overhaul of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) soon to improve the supply of medicines to its 4.7 million beneficiaries. The initiative aims to address recurring complaints of drug shortages and delays and will bring real-time tracking and accountability to ensure smooth delivery to one of India’s largest public health networks, according to two officials and documents reviewed by Mint.
At the core of the upgrade being carried out by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the new eShushrut pharmacy module – a manual for CGHS dispensary staff to ensure ease of use of digital platforms while dispensing medicines to beneficiaries. This is designed to digitize every step – from inventory and prescription verification to dispensing – ensuring timely, transparent and reliable access to medicines across CGHS dispensaries.
“The need for this upgrade has risen to ensure timely and effective healthcare delivery to government employees, pensioners and their dependents in view of the increasing morbidity of the Indian population,” a government official familiar with the matter said. The new system has robust security and operational features and uses OTP-based authentication.
The official said the system has a user-friendly interface and includes alerts that alert staff to missing drugs or incorrect information, ensuring data integrity to ensure comprehensive digital accountability at the pharmacy level.
“Dispensing medicines to patients involves CGHS staff using the Beneficiary ID (Ben ID) to search, check the patient’s prescription and dispense specified medicines. By digitizing every step from stock acquisition to dispensing, this comprehensive overhaul is designed to eliminate manual errors and ensure that every beneficiary has reliable and faster access to the required medicines, a key step in modernization of the second official health care system.
Dr Indu Bhushan, former executive director of the National Health Authority, recalled that he chaired the CGHS reform committee that recommended digitization of the health program years ago. He said moving away from paper-based systems is essential to prevent delays and document loss and will promote transparency, accessibility and predictability for users.
The government has recently revised the rates for nearly 2,000 CGHS medical procedures for the benefit of hospitals and beneficiaries. The new rates depend on the quality and location of the hospital. Accredited hospitals (NABH/NABL) get full rates while non-accredited get 15% less. Super specialty hospitals will get 15% more. Rates vary by city level, ensuring reimbursements are consistent with local cost structures and quality standards.
Inquiries sent to a Health Department spokesperson on Sunday remained unanswered as of press time.
Dr. Indu Bhushan, founder (ex-)executive director of the National Health Authority, lauded the digital push, recalling that he headed the CGHS reform committee that recommended digitization of the program years ago.
Moving away from paper-based systems is essential to prevent delays, document loss and fraud, and to ensure transparency, accessibility and predictability for users, said Dr. Bhushan. Digitization also improves accountability and audit capability and helps the system harmonize with other health schemes, he added.
