The service enables patients to conveniently register for OPD appointments by scanning a QR code displayed at the OPD registration counter
The National Health Authority (NHA), in its mission towards digitising healthcare services has generated over three crore tokens for Out-Patient Department (OPD) registrations through the ABHA-based Scan and Share service.
Launched under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) in October 2022, this paperless service has changed the patient experience, particularly benefiting vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, and those with mobility challenges, by eliminating the need to wait in long queues for appointments.
The ABHA-based Scan and Share service enables patients to conveniently register for OPD appointments by scanning a QR code displayed at the OPD registration counter, thereby instantaneously sharing their ABHA profile for registration.
According to the statement, the Scan and Share service is presently operating across over 5435 healthcare facilities spanning across 546 districts in 35 States and Union Territories of India. Notably, an average of 1.3 Lakh individuals avail the scan and share service daily, highlighting its usefulness and popularity among the citizens.
The Scan and Share initiative’s widespread adoption by states and Union Territories across public health facilities is effectively streamlining patient registration processes at the OPD counters and enhancing service efficiency to the patients. Uttar Pradesh has generated the maximum tokens of 92.7 lakh tokens, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 53.7 lakhs, Karnataka with 39.9 lakhs, and Jammu & Kashmir with 37.1 lakh tokens.
Among all the token generations, approximately 75 per cent are first-time users, while 25 per cent use scan and share for subsequent visits, highlighting its widespread adoption and usefulness.
To drive further adoption of the Scan and Share service among hospitals and Digital Solution Companies (DSCs) providing technology to healthcare facilities, NHA offers financial incentives through the ABDM’s Digital Health Incentive Scheme (DHIS) for ‘Scan and Share’ transactions and the generation of electronic health records.
NHA is leveraging technology to enhance patients’ access to healthcare services. The ‘Scan and Share’ service is now being implemented at pharmacy counters of the public hospitals also and plans are underway to extend it to laboratory settings. Additionally, efforts are being made to launch upcoming services, like ‘Scan and Send’ and ‘Scan and Pay’ leveraging the comfort of citizens with QR codes. ‘ The ‘Scan and Pay’ service will enable the patients to make payments for tests or medicines prescribed to them directly through their app, eliminating the need to wait in lines for payment at healthcare facilities. Similarly, the ‘Scan and Send’ service will soon allow patients to conveniently scan a QR code at a facility (hospital or pharmacy) and send their health records, (including prescriptions or lab reports).