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SADM – Software for Assessment of Disability, Maharashtra Online issuance of Disability Certificates

for Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, Public Health Department & Directorate of Medical Education & Research Government of Maharashtra, India

Case Study Prepared by

Varun Maurya SeMT Consultant, DIT

Project Sponsored by

Directorate of Information Technology

Government of Maharashtra, India

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Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Section 1: Background ........................................................................................................................ 4

Section 2: Challenges .......................................................................................................................... 5

Section 3: e-Governance Solution Implemented ............................................................................... 6

Section 4: Benefits Realized ............................................................................................................... 8

Section 5: Statistics and Achievements ............................................................................................. 8

Section 6 : Achievements ................................................................................................................... 9

Section 7: Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 10

Section 8: Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 10

Section 9: Contact Information ........................................................................................................ 10

Annexure: Screenshots and Sample Disability Certificate ............................................................... 11

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Abstract

India is a vast country with variable social, cultural, geographical and

economic background. The rapid industrialization and increase in vehicular

traffic has increased the number of accidents as well. The changing

demographic picture with increase in life expectancy and active working

population in industries, urban or rural, has brought in its wake a number of

disability problems in all age groups and more so in the productive group

which require measures for disability evaluation.

According to census 2001, Maharashtra has around 1.6 million disabled

people. At present disability evaluation in India is needed to award

compensation, stipends, employment, conveyance allowance, travel

concessions, tax-deduction benefits, admission to various courses etc. to the

disabled.

There were a lot of issues ranging from identification of actual beneficiaries,

duplication of records, negligence, corrupt practices etc because of which the

PWD’s were unable to receive the services to which they are entitled to.

The case study outlines the current process of issuance of Disability

certificates in Maharashtra, the issues faced by the Administration, people

and Doctors in the current process and how the use of Information

Technology helped in streamlining the process and weed out the challenges.

The case study explains the eGovernance initiative taken by the Government

of Maharashtra by developing the online software called SADM (Software for

assessment of Disability, Maharashtra) in order to bring in transparency and

objectiveness for calculation of the Disability percentage.

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Section 1: Background

The Social Justice and Special Assistance Department deals with various

schemes for Persons with Disabilities offering benefits ranging from providing

concessional assistive devices, Insurance, Job reservations, scholarships,

Health benefits, Special Schools etc.

However, for availing all the types of benefits, an individual needs a Disability

certificate. The Disability Certificate is a document that acts as a proof of

disability of an individual and an important tool for availing the benefits /

facilities / rights that he/she is entitled to, from the Central as well as State

Government under various appropriate enabling legislations.

A Medical Board of three doctors including one specialist from Medical

Department examines the disabled person and issues the disability certificate

in case of 40% or more percentage disability. As per the persons with

Disabilities Act, 1995, seven disabilities are applicable :

(i) Blindness

(ii) Low vision

(iii) Leprosy-cured

(iv) Hearing impairment

(v) Loco motor disability

(vi) Mental retardation

(vii) Mental illness.

The Medical Board after due examination give a permanent disability

certificate in cases of such permanent disabilities where there are no chances

of variation in the degree of disability.

However in Maharashtra, it is categorized into 5 disabilities i.e. (i) Visual

impairment (ii) Hearing impairment (iii) Physical/Locomotor (iv) Mental

retardation (v) Mental illness

In Maharashtra, the issuance of Disability certificates is the responsibility of

PHD (Public Health Department) and DMER (Department of Medical

Education and Research).

So, when the state decided to make the process online, all the three

departments came together and helped the IT department in developing it.

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Section 2: Challenges

The current process for issuing of Disability certificates created a lot of

Duplications. A person who was not happy with his disability percentage given

in one Hospital, would go to some other Hospital and get another certificate

according to his will. There was no way to track if the person has been

assessed before.

Another biggest challenge for the authorities was identification of real persons

with Disabilities. There was no way to verify whether a person is a genuine or

a bogus person. People used to take undue advantages of the benefits they

are not entitled to.

It was also difficult for the authorities to reach the beneficiaries as there was

no proper centralized record available at any time. The entire process was

manual and the records for every Hospital were kept in the respective

hospitals registers.

Another problem was the lack of awareness among the Medical professionals

regarding of use of GOI guidelines for calculation of disability especially for

locomotor cases. Doctors would ascertain the disability of the person based

on the guide lines and their discretion. There was an element of subjectivity

involved.

Another problem was the pressure from politically motivated groups to issue

the disability certificates so that programmes offering help to such people

could be arranged for creating a good image in the eyes of public.

If all ineligible persons enjoying benefits are weeded out, it will become easier

for the right beneficiaries to receive the help they need.

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Section 3: e-Governance Solution Implemented

SADM is a web-based software application that allows a scientific assessment

of disabilities and it is being currently implemented in all the 35 districts of

Maharashtra.

In this approach, the doctors are instructed to enter only the parameters of the

person into the system, following which the software automatically assesses

the percentage of disability of that particular individual. Accordingly, a

computer-generated disability certificate with a unique ID is issued to the

concerned person.

Scientific assessment of degree of the disability is done on the basis of

methods and formulas prescribed in the Gazette 2001 issued by the Ministry

of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India.

There are five modules in the software i.e.

(i) Visual,

(ii) Hearing,

(iii) Physical,

(iv) Mental Illness and

(v) Mental Retardation.

The entire Workflow is divided into two parts

a. Patient Registration (After capturing personal details, a unique 13 digit

Token id is generated)

b. Doctors Assessment ( Certificate generation after entering assessment

parameters )

During the Registration the photo of the individual is captured through a

webcam and all the document proofs are scanned and uploaded.

Technology stack used:

Front End: Java, J2EE, Spring, Hibernate

Backend: MySQL 5.5.27, JBOSS 7.1

The application is hosted at SDC (State Data Centre) of Government of

Maharashtra. The Application went live on 3rd December 2012. The pilots

were done at Thane Civil Hospital, JJ Hospital and AIIPMR in Mumbai.

Trainings were held at Thane and Pune simultaneously for a period of 4 days

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in November and Feedbacks from the Medical fraternity was taken to fine

tune the application.

As-IS Processes:

To-Be (Re-Engineered Process):

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Section 4: Benefits Realized

The implementation of SADM has resulted in the following benefits:

• Scientific assessment of degree of the disability is done on the basis of

methods and formulas prescribed in the Gazette 2001 issued by the

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India. So the

element of subjectivity and discretion is minimal.

• Generation of a computer based Disability Certificate with unique ID so the

process has become standardized

• Duplication check - Applicant once registered/issued certificate from one

hospital cannot go to other hospital for re assessment. He will be flagged.

Hence bogus cases will be weeded out.

• Centralized database of all Disabled is maintained.

• Centralized database of Doctors/Specialists in the state who are part of

any Medical Board is maintained.

• Linkage to Aadhaar (UID Number of the application)

• Transparency and Tracking :Name, Designation and registration no of

Medical board directly captured on output certificate

• Real Time Reports. The System maintains the disability Data as per

various Category (e.g. area wise, disability wise, gender wise etc).

• Govt. & NGO’s can avail the data for planning policy making & implement

the projects, schemes & benefits.

• The database will be hosted in the Public Domain to enable service

providers to reach out to the disabled persons.

Section 5: Statistics and Achievements

• Around 45000 applicants have been registered

• Around 35000 certificates have been given

• As on today 42 hospitals are registered

• Name, Registration no & Designation of more than 600 Doctors have been

maintained

• Around 14% rejection notes (< 40% disability) have been given

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Section 6 : Achievements

• This project has won Bronze medal in State eGov Awards 2013

• This project was featured in July 2013 issue of PC Quest as a Case study.

Link can be found at

http://www.pcquest.com/pcquest/feature/192427/govt-maharashtras-

sadm-software-assessment-disability-maharashtra

• Government of India has agreed to replicate the model for other states of

the country.

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Section 7: Conclusion

Since its launch in December, the application has received a very good

response from all the quarters of Departments as well as Hospitals.

In order to work towards an inclusive, barrier free society through raising

awareness and policy actions, there was a need to have comprehensive

reliable statistics on people with disability. The State is hopeful that the steps

taken will help in weeding out bogus beneficiaries and reaching out to the real

beneficiary.

Section 8: Acknowledgements

We sincerely acknowledge the efforts put by following top-ranking officials, in

making this project a grand success.

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS, Secretary IT, Govt. of Maharashtra

Dr. T C Benjamin, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health

Department, Govt. of Maharashtra

Dr. Sharma, Director, AIIPMR, Mumbai

Section 9: Contact Information

Mr Rajesh Aggarwal

Secretary (IT), GoM

Email : sec.it@semt.maharashtra.gov.in

Mr Varun Maurya

SeMT Consultant, DIT, GoM

Email : Varun.maurya@semt.maharashtra.gov.in

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Annexure: Screenshots and Sample Disability Certificate

1. SADM Home page

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2. Part A of the application Form

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3. Part B of the Application Form

4. Reports

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Sample Certificate