Digital Unique Health ID Sets the Revolutionary Era in India’s Healthcare

Highlights:

• An all-in-one digital health ecosystem has been launched in India
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) on 27th September 2021
• The digital health record comes with a unique health ID to all the citizens for hassle-free access to health records through a mobile application

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has been rolled out nationwide by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27th September 2021 via video conferencing. The launch was followed by the PM’s talk on the occasion. ABDM is designed to craft an all-in-one online platform that facilitates interoperability within the digital health ecosystem.

Advertisement

What is Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission?

ABDM is a unique digital health infrastructure that would serve as easy access to healthcare records through digital roads. The development was based on the foundational digital resource – Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile (JAM) trinity by the government. It is estimated that India is home to almost 43 crores of Jan Dhan bank accounts, 130 crore Aadhaar users, 118 crore mobile subscribers, and 80 crore internet users – globally exceptional data as per the prime minister.

The digital online platform intends to provide a wide range of interoperable, open data access and exchange of longitudinal health records, information & infrastructure services via online-platform with citizens’ consent. The data shall moreover, retain its confidentiality, privacy, and security on health-related personal information.

Advertisement

Key Components

The constituents of ABDM are:

• Health ID – a digitalized & unique 14-digit health identification number that will serve as a health account for every citizen to store personal health records and can be accessed via a mobile application.
• Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR)
• Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR)
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox

HPR & HFR will remain the source of health records for all the doctors, hospitals, and healthcare providers (both traditional and modern medicine) for easy, hassle-free access.

While, ABDM Sandbox will be entertained as a technological framework for product testing, aid the organizations to become a part of the National Digital Health Ecosystem and proficiently connect the building blocks of ABDM.

Advertisement

Historic Initiative

The Prime Minister announced the historic motive through a pilot project of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission on India’s 74th Independence Day – 15th August 2020 at Red Fort. So far, the pilot phase had been employed in six Union Territories of India.

The initiative was anticipated to bridge the prevailing gaps among diverse participants of the healthcare ecosystem through digitalization. This may help build better health accessibility for everyone in the country.

ABDM Implementation

The launch of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission coincided with the NHA’s (National Health Authority) celebration for the 3rd anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) – Arogya Manthan 3.0.

The ABDM’s unique health ID is produced using a person’s basic details and can be linked with one’s Aadhaar or Mobile number.

This can be later accessed through a mobile application, a Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR), and Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR). It will thereby remain as a digital health account for every Indian citizen.

What to Expect with the Launch

As the health ID is unique to the individual citizen, it would be a repository for all the health-related information of the person. It will include the details of all the diseases diagnosed, investigations/tests done, doctors visited, and the medicines prescribed.

All the health information will be thus packed portably in a digital platform that can be accessed whenever and wherever required. By presenting the health ID to a doctor or healthcare provider, one can effortlessly get their prescriptions, lab reports, and diagnosis digitally.

This shall allow any doctor to access the patient’s medical record, upon the patient’s consent – equity for an effective diagnosis, for even the poor and middle-class citizens in just one click.

Digital India for Equal Healthcare

This mission anticipates an interoperable digital health ecosystem that will allow all the citizens to access the healthcare facilities in just one click. The goal was similar to the Unified Payments Interface that revolutionized payment platforms.

So far, more than 1 lakh unique Health IDs have been generated since the pilot launch (2020) under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

Towards Digital India

With the launch of digitally integrated infrastructure, the Prime Minister emphasized its role in improving even the tourism sector. India is taking a faster and transparent pace with the on-going digitalization – from Ration to Prashaasan.

“The way technology is being deployed in governance reforms today is unprecedented. These healthcare solutions are a big investment in the present and future of the country” says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The mission, moreover, in-scripts a novel strengthening facility for all the health care efforts over the last seven years. With the exceptional growth of telemedicine, the digital mission of the nation is thereby set to contribute digital health solutions for all.

References:

1. ABDM Components - (https://ndhm.gov.in/)
2. Press Information Bureau Government of India - (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1758248)

Source-Medindia