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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 : [email protected]
Mr Varun Maurya
SeMT Consultant, DIT, GoM
Email : [email protected]
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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