As a digital public good, Bahmni will enjoy increased visibility and support in tackling global challenges
Bahmni, an open source Electronic Medical Record (EMR) governed by the Bahmni Coalition, was added to the Digital Public Goods Alliance's DPG Registry. Thoughtworks, a global software consultancy is part of the Bahmni Coalition's core governing committee and was instrumental in conceiving and building Bahmni during its early years.
The Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) and its registry promotes digital public goods in order to create a more equitable world. To become a digital public good, projects are required to meet the DPG Standard ensuring they truly encapsulate open-source principles.
Bahmni is one of only 23 projects deemed digital public goods out of more than 500 nominations. The Hospital Information System (HIS) and EMR is a seamless integration of three critical systems: patient medical records, laboratory management and billing. Bahmni has been built on top of OpenMRS, OpenELIS, OpenERP and cm4Chee, an OSS Radiology PACS Server - to be a user-intuitive system customized for use in low-resource areas with limited bandwidth and infrastructure.
Today, Bahmni implementations are in more than 500 hospitals across 50 countries, benefiting millions of patients around the world.
On occasion of the recognition, Sudhir Tiwari, managing director for Thoughtworks in India said, "We designed Bahmni to make quality healthcare accessible in places where the doctor to patient ratio is relatively low and there is no formal medical record system. Being listed as a digital public good is a recognition of the impact Bahmni has had, and the role it can play in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Being part of the DPGA's registry will ensure Bahmni greater global visibility and access to funding sources and implementation support in the future."
"Bahmni is a welcome addition to the DPG Registry. Thanks to the focus on low-resourced areas with bandwidth and resource limitations, Bahmni has the potential to serve as the open-source reference EMR application globally, a prospect that moves the needle on achieving the sustainable development goals," added Lucy Harris, co-lead of the DPGA Secretariat.
About The Bahmni Coalition
The Bahmni Coalition is a group of organizations whose primary responsibility is to evolve and support the Bahmni product. The Coalition includes organizations that are users of Bahmni, contributors to Bahmni development or implementation, and those offering services around Bahmni.
The Bahmni Coalition acts as a representative of the wider Bahmni community. It is responsible for setting direction for the product, ensuring larger community involvement, evangelising Bahmni adoption and acting as a steward for Bahmni license.
About the Digital Public Goods Alliance
The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General, working to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods.
The Secretariat of the Digital Public Goods Alliance is co-hosted by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and UNICEF and governed by an Interim Strategy Group consisting of: iSPIRT; The Government of Norway; The Government of Sierra Leone; and UNICEF.