Abstract:

Access to full electronic health record (EHR) systems is still limited in many rural and low-resource areas because of cost, weak infrastructure and limited technical skills. Bahmni, an open-source system built on OpenMRS, OpenERP (Odoo) and other community tools, provides an affordable and flexible option for such settings. This study explores how Bahmni can be used as a EHR for rural hospitals, focusing on its design, and real-world. The system combines different parts of hos pital work, including patient records, laboratory results, pharmacy data and administrative tasks into one con nected platform. Examples from rural hospitals show that Bahmni can improve record keeping, help share in formation between different departments and support better clinical decisions. It is also useful for teaching health informatics students how real EHR systems work. However, some challenges remain, such as the need for stronger decision support tools, regular technical sup port, and better scalability. In general, Bahmni proves that it is possible to build and run an open-source EHR that fits the needs of rural healthcare while helping local teams to develop digital health skills.