DIGITISATION OF HEALTH SERVICES - EMPOWERING CITIZENS

Abstract

Empowerment means enabling the weak who lagged in the race of development due to so many factors. Empowerment equips the weak through legal, socio-cultural, educational and political measures. Steps have always been initiated for such social groups in constitutional, legal, political, and other positive ways to enable them to participate in the race for development with equal footing. In India since independence, successive governments have initiated several measures for such groups. In the 21st century changes are undergoing with the help of technology, especially digital technology. Digital technology is another measure to empower the citizens while dealing with governments and machinery of governance. Empowerment of citizens through digital technology is to make governance machinery efficient, effective, accessible, responsive, responsible, smart and accountable. Merely creating machinery with the help of technology is not sufficient. Empowering the citizens in real terms means that the citizens' interface with the governance should be faceless and transparent. In the second and present decade of the 21st century, it has seen that all govt departments have gone digital like railways, communication, education, finance including general administration (district and tehsil administration) and health are especially some examples. India is a leading country that delivers most of its services through e-mode and has jumped 22 ranks from the year 2010 to the year 2022 worldwide (eGDI). Though it is not possible to evaluate the functioning of all the departments which used digital technology as a case study, therefore, health services are taken to evaluate the impact of digital technology in India to empower the citizens. India has its main focus on creating digital infrastructure, resulting in India coming in third place in terms of digitisation of the economy as per State of India's Digital Economy Report, 2024 (www.digitalindia.gov.in).