The National Health Authority (NHA) on Saturday informed that over 4 crore digital health records of citizens have been linked to the Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) of beneficiaries under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). The scheme was launched on September 27 last year by PM Modi with the goal of creating a seamless online platform to enable interoperability within the digital health ecosystem.
Since its launch, over 4 crore health records of citizens have been digitized and linked with their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
More than 4 Crore health records linked digitally with #ABHAnumber
— National Health Authority (NHA) (@AyushmanNHA) December 17, 2022
ABHA holders can access & manage these records as per convenience & create a comprehensive medical history across various healthcare providers thereby improving clinical decision-making.
👉https://t.co/2QDMEkbffs pic.twitter.com/q6TOwoMpdX
The NHA further said that more than 29 crore citizens have generated their unique Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) so far.
“With their health records linked to their ABHA accounts digitally, citizens will be able to access and manage these records as per convenience. This enables citizens to create a comprehensive medical history across various healthcare providers thereby improving clinical decision-making. Further, the citizens can also share relevant health records with ABDM registered healthcare providers digitally,” read the statement issued by the Health Ministry.
Speaking about the milestone India has achieved in its digital health journey, RS Sharma, the CEO of NHA said, “As the implementing agency for ABDM, National Health Authority is working closely with different stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of digital health services can be availed by more citizens. We’re planning to launch an incentive scheme for health facilities such as hospitals, clinics, diagnostic labs etc. to further promote the digitization of health records. We’re also encouraging different health locker applications to integrate with ABDM so that citizens get more choices for storing and managing their digital records.”
“With continuous focus on digitization of health records, we aim to achieve paperless medical consultations and thereby more accuracy in each transaction between the patient and healthcare service provider,” Sharma added.
The press note further informed that this digital linking of individual health records with ABHA is being carried out extensively across different health facilities of the country with the support of State Governments. The leading contributors to ABHA-linked health records include the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) scheme under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, eHospital and Cowin among others.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday congratulated India for achieving another milestone in its digital health journey.
“Milestone Moment! Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission crosses the landmark of 4 crores digitally linked health records. PM @NarendraModi Ji’s Govt is committed to building a robust, inter-operable & inclusive digital health ecosystem for a healthy India,” the Health Minister tweeted.
Milestone Moment!
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) December 17, 2022
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission crosses the landmark of 4⃣ crores digitally linked health records.
PM @NarendraModi Ji’s Govt is committed to building a robust, inter-operable & inclusive digital health ecosystem for a healthy India. pic.twitter.com/eNU6087owZ
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
On September 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the countrywide Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) to create a seamless online platform to enable interoperability within the digital health ecosystem. Under the new mission, the government aims to provide a digital health ID to every citizen in the country where health records can be saved securely in digital format. With this mission, the government will be able to provide better health facilities to the remotest villages of the country.
Giving more information about the flagship scheme, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Mansukh Mandaviya then said that as ABDM would store old medical records, the chances of losing them would be almost nil in the future. He added that a host of facilities like Digital Consultation, the Consent of patients in letting medical practitioners access their records and others make this platform a remarkable milestone in health infrastructure in India.
The main aim of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is to develop the necessary backbone of the digital health infrastructure in India. It would bridge the existing gap among several stakeholders across the healthcare sector. Under the mission, digital health solutions of hospitals across the country are being connected with each other.
The Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts digitallylinks the citizens and patients with other stakeholders in the health sector, which includes hospitals and clinics, labs, pharmacies, wellness centres, insurance companies and TPAs, Health Tech companies, Doctors, NGOs working in the sector and other organisations, regulators, program managers, state governments and the central government.
How to become part of ABDM?
The first step for a citizen to become part of ABDM is by creating a health ID. It is a randomly generated 14-digit number that would be used to uniquely identify a person, authenticate the identity and connect health records to it.
OpIndia published a thorough analysis regarding India’s ambitious digital health ecosystem last year. You may learn more about creating a Health ID and the advantages of participating in ABDM here.
