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National Digital Health Mission to be rolled out soon, says Health minister
The digital health mission aims to digitalise healthcare by creating a country-wide digital health ecosystem that will enable patients to store, access and provide consent to share their health records with doctors and health facilities of their choice
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has said that National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) will soon be rolled out across the country, wherein patients will be able to store and share medical records, including test results, which can also be accessed by treating doctors with the consent of patients.
The project is already being tests on pilot basis in six Union Territories.
“I reviewed NDHM and I am happy to note that in just a little over three months, the mission has made notable progress in its pilot in six Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, and will soon be ready for a national rollout,” said Harsh Vardhan.
“From both the citizen and medical practitioner point of view, the mission is privacy- and security-led and will enable consent-based sharing of health information in the form of test reports, scans, prescriptions and diagnosis reports between patients and treating medicos, thereby making follow-up care seamless, secure and timely.”
The digital health mission aims to digitalise healthcare by creating a country-wide digital health ecosystem that will enable patients to store, access and provide consent to share their health records with doctors and health facilities of their choice.
The key segments of the mission include HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, eHospital, Patient Health Records and Consent Manager.
“One of the most remarkable aspects of NDHM is that it takes into account the lived realities of Indians spread across the digital divide. NDHM will empower millions of citizens without smart phones or those in remote tribal areas facing connectivity issues to still avail healthcare through its offline modules,” the minister said.
The government is making use of technology to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of healthcare delivery in India, through better access to healthcare data.
A national digital health ecosystem will be created through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.
NDHM seeks to create a national digital health infrastructure starting with the building of Health IDs, Unique Identifiers for doctors and health facilities, Personal Health Records, and telemedicine and e-pharmacy, among other components.
