PHD Chamber and NeGD host national e-governance conference
PHD Chamber, in collaboration with NeGD (National E-Governance Division), recently hosted a national conference on e-governance in New Delhi. Called ‘E-Governance: Deliveries on Transparency, Compliance and Good Governance,’ the conference discussed the roadmap for effective and robust e-governance implementation, the upgradation of the present e-governance model in India and other issues related to e-governance with a focus on health.
Held at the PHD House in New Delhi, the conference was inaugurated by Prof. Suptendra Nath Sarbadhikari, project director of the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), and Milan Narendra, partner at Ernst & Young India.
Sanjeev Shriya, chairman of the committee on electronics and ICT, PHD Chamber, in his welcome address said that the rise of e-governance had been one of the most striking developments of the Web. The increase in broadband and mobile connections shows that citizens today are expecting more and more information and services online, from governments and corporate organisations and thereby, strengthening the new ‘e-citizenship’ model, he added.
Shriya stated that e-governance offered benefits such as speed, cost reduction, transparency, accountability and convenience as well as providing citizens with increased access to information.
Atul Anand, co-chairman of the committee on electronics and ICT, PHD
Chamber, in his theme address of the conference, highlighted the fact that e-governance integrated governance with people, processes and information technology. Anand optimistically said that India is likely to soon emerge as a leader in e-governance, considering the country’s success with e-commerce and IT.
Narendra of Ernst & Young India, in his talk on ‘Global Learning for a Feasible and Sustainable model of UHC (universal health coverage) in India’, mentioned six pillars of UHC that are defined by the World Health Organisation. These include healthcare financing, availability of essential medicines and healthcare products, policies, motivated workforce and availability of information statistics and information systems. He added that there is a lot of work happening in India on healthcare delivery, which is at par with global practices.
Prof. Sarbadhikari talked on ‘e-Health in Digital India’. He revealed that the government is about to release its revised guidelines for electronic health records (EHR). He also stated that alongside e-health, sanitation and nutrition are equally vital in the good health model.
With the rise of smartphone and Internet users in the country, the government is reducing the complexity of the healthcare system and providing services online in the form of websites like Data.gov.in and National Health Portal (NHP), Prof. Sarbadhikari added.
Vivek Seigell, director of PHD Chamber, in the plenary session, said that a regulatory mechanism to promote and cultivate the habit of creating health data has to be developed in the country, and the ongoing growth of the IT industry will enhance healthcare developments.
Life Insurance Council and the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) were the associate partners for the conference. The EFY Group, the parent company of Open Source For You, was among its media partners.