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> FOCUS AREAS - ACCESS |
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Knowledge Network |
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Extensive educational infrastructure and resources are required to meet the
challenge of producing quality trained personnel in sufficient numbers in
the country. While the requirement of having sufficient numbers of quality
educational institutions with adequate research facilities cannot be
compromised, it is understood that one way of meeting this challenge is to
share the existing educational material, equipment and facilities available
in the limited number of centres of excellence, with a large number of
universities and technical, agricultural and medical institutions throughout
the country. In addition, Research and Development activity world-over in
various fields, is increasingly being carried out through inter institution
even trans-country collaborative approach. This has become necessary owing
to the increased activity in computationally intensive and data intensive
research problems. The key ingredients in this approach are consultations,
data sharing, and resource sharing. It is therefore necessary to create the
facilities to enable Indian researchers to undertake such collaborative
efforts albeit at reasonable costs. Sharing of R&D infrastructure and data
which has been an approach favoured in Europe from the 80's, and since then
adopted by other countries around the world, could thus provide a viable
solution for India as well.
In this context the National Knowledge Commission undertook a project to
explore the possibility of establishing an efficient and cost effective
network design to interconnect all Universities, R&D institutions, S&T
institutions; Health service facilities, Agriculture research and extension
institutions and Libraries in the country (possibly several thousand nodes)
with an access speed of at least 100 Mbps. A white paper outlining the
concept and the approach has been prepared by Dr DPS Seth as external expert
to the NKC. This
report has been extensively circulated amongst relevant
stakeholders and feedback and suggestions have been incorporated to finalize
the NKC recommendations on this subject, which have now been submitted to
the Prime Minister. |
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Health Information Network |
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A reliable, swift, real time health data collection system is essential to
enhance the quality of health care delivery in India. Moreover, independent
growth of health care delivery institutions could create multiple dissimilar
standards of health data collection and dissemination which, due to lack of
interoperability, would increase the cost of health care enormously. A
Health Network therefore is urgently needed to preempt these and other
problems facing mature health care systems of the world today.
Recognizing this, the National Knowledge Commission has constituted a Working
Group on Health Information Network, composed of experts in the area. The
group is in the process of holding extensive discussions and will address
issues such as the required IT and Clinical standards, and the regulatory
framework that needs to be put in place to facilitate a national level,
web-based, secure electronic health information system. The working group
held its first meeting on the 21st of August 2006. |
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