ABDM, teletherapy and mental health care budgets reduced
Earlier this week, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the country’s official budget for 2024-25.
The government has allocated Rs 90,958.63 crore ($10.8 billion) for healthcare, an boost of almost 13% over last year’s outlay of Rs 80,517.62 crore ($9.6 billion).
This includes Rs 200 crore ($24 million) for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission, down from Rs 341 crore ($40.7 million) allocated last year. The government programme is building the foundation of a digitally connected healthcare ecosystem by creating electronic health records.
Meanwhile, another digital health initiative – the national mental health telemedicine programme – also saw its funding cut from 133.7 million rupees ($16 million) a year earlier to 90 million rupees ($10.7 million).
NUCOHS announces work underway to integrate image data and artificial intelligence
The National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore (NUCOHS) has unveiled a long-term plan to leverage digital technology to advance dental care.
The center, which is part of the National University Health System, said it is building a dental imaging repository that will support the development of modern treatment plans and data-driven research. It plans to integrate the database with computer-aided design and manufacturing to streamline the creation of dental restorations such as dentures, dentures and crowns.
NUCOHS also said it is working to integrate artificial intelligence models with its EMR system to improve early detection and prediction of dental conditions such as tooth decay and gum disease.
“AI will play an increasingly important role in our practice, and by integrating AI and innovative research, we provide patients with the most precise, efficient and appropriate care. In addition, we hope to use our extensive data to study the association and impact of a patient’s systemic health status and medications on the progression of dental disease and treatment prognosis,” explained Patrick Tseng, associate professor at NUCOHS.
PhilHealth presents digital platform to improve access to services
Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the Philippines has begun migrating its legacy systems to a modern, secure system.
It recently launched the ePhilHealth platform, which streamlines access to the insurer’s various services, including its outpatient benefits program, eKonsulta. Through PhilHealth’s integration with the eGovernment data exchange platform, its members can also access their profiles, premiums, and claim histories on the eGovPH super app.
PhilHealth has also integrated its system with the Philippine ID card system.
The decision to move to a more secure digital infrastructure comes almost a year after the state health insurer fell victim to the Medusa ransomware attack, which exposed the data of some 13 million members.