Lok Sabha Question No. 5646 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-26
Subject: Healthcare Data
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Vinayak Bhaurao Raut, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Shrirang Appa Barne, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5646 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH JULY, 2019

## HEALTHCARE DATA

## 5646. SHRI VINAYAK RAUT:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether good quality data pertaining to healthcare is quite crucial for efficient al of our limited resources;
- (b)  if  so,  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  data  pertaining  to  healthcare  in  India  is compromised in terms of its quality, its periodicity and coverage;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  discrepancy  between  the  type  of  informat available and what is required by health planners, medical scientists and researchers, details thereof;
- (d) whether data collection system in India needs to be completely revamped as different data sources lead to different conclusions, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken so far by the Government to strengthen data quality?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMIL Y WELFARE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- ( a): Good  quality  data  pertaining  to  healthcare  is  crucial,  since  the  data  like availability, Human Resource and infrastructure availability, etc along with service deli is utilised for allocation of resources efficiently.
- (b) : The  data  pertain ing  to  health  care  facilities  does  not  lack  the  requisite  qualit coverage. Data pertaining to Healthcare is collected on various data items/ indicators i scientific/objective methods and state of art IT based data collection techniques, throu h Large Scale  Surveys,  Online  Management  Information  Systems,  etc.  However,  the  data  collecti methods and objectives may vary. In case of large scale surveys, the purpose is to ass efficacy of the existing health systems at a regular periodicity, and forecasting demand for the future. Whereas, in case of, Online Management Information Systems, the purpose is to mon the  existing  healthcare  facilities  on  routine  basis  and  to  initiate  mid - term  course  corrections, wherever required.
- (c) : Major dis crepancies have not been observed between the type of information availab and that of those required by the planners because the information collected is based int the inputs provided by stakeholders. However, variations within certain acceptab le limits may arise due to difference in objectives/methodologies.
- (d): For comparability among the different data sources, MoHFW has notified Meta Data an Data  Standards  (MDDS)  in  August  2018  to  enable  semantic  interoperability  among  variou healthcar e applications for seamless sharing of data and services.

(e): The  steps  taken    by  the  Government  to  strengthen  data  quality  include:  organi regular  training/review  programmes,  IT  enabled  quality  checks,  field  inspection  for verification,  adopting  standards  such  as  MDDS  and  Electronic  Health  Records  (EHR), and promoting data entry only once, etc. Regarding large scale surveys data, quality and robus ensured by following standard sampling procedures, comprehensive training and intensive monitoring/supervision.