Patient-centric medical information system based on web services for tuberculosis control in India

Tuberculosis is a dreadful and an infectious disease with devastating social and economic costs and reduces the working capacity of infected persons, thus a major barrier to the economic development of the family of the affected and the country. More adults die from TB than from any other infectious disease in India. It is determined that TB is a curable disease and a winnable battle. A plethora of healthcare services are available today. Majority of this work have been carried out from the perspective of the physicians and other medical staff increasing their efficiency and in turn the quality of the service that patients receive, however the patients needs to be actively involved in this process. Patients which are suspected to be suffering from tuberculosis or those who have diagnosed as TB Positive needs to visit several outpatients clinics and hospitals to receive their medical records. The prototype developed here provides a central place for the patients over the internet to avail their medical information from these disparate healthcare providers using web services. The evaluation of the prototype shows that it is highly scalable, extensible, secure and interoperable with several providers systems.