Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission: All you need to know

Under the mission, a unique digital health ID will be provided to the people, which will contain all the health records of the person.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, which according to the central government will strengthen health facilities in the country. “Today is a very important day. The drive to strengthen the health facilities of the country, in the last 7 years, is entering a new phase today. This is not an ordinary phase. This is an extraordinary phase,” PM Modi said, lauding the digital initiative.

The mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent.

“The drive to strengthen the health facilities of the country, in the last 7 years, is entering a new phase today. This is not an ordinary phase. This is an extraordinary phase,” he added.

The healthcare sector welcomed the move, calling it a “progressive step”. “The PMDHM would be a revolutionary concept in the healthcare delivery of our country and would be akin to the introduction of Aadhaar card introduced in our country many years ago as a unique identification card for our citizens.,” said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals.

Know all about Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission:

1. Under the mission, a unique digital health ID will be provided to the people, which will contain all the health records of the person.

2. The pilot project of the National Digital Health Mission was announced by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 2020.

3. At present, the project is being implemented in the pilot phase in six Union Territories. The nationwide rollout of the project coincides with National Health Authority (NHA) celebrating the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

4. The mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent.

5. The key components of the project include a health ID for every citizen that will also work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application, a Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) that will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine. This will ensure ease of doing business for doctors and hospitals and healthcare service providers, the statement said.

6. The mission will create integration within the digital health ecosystem, similar to the role played by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in revolutionising payments. Citizens will only be a click-away from accessing healthcare facilities, the PMO said.