An ambitious initiative National Digital Health Mission, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech on Saturday, will see the creation of health IDs for every citizen that will enable storing personal medical records and disease history electronically.
A digital health ecosystem will be put in place, complete with a personal health ID for every Indian, identifiers for doctors and health facilities and personal health records. All of this will be accessible through an app or a website with the health records “ownership” lying with the individual, ThePrint.
Explaining the project, he says: Coronavirus has made us think about being self-reliant with regard to health as well.
A day earlier, PM Modi who is currently in his second tenure, achieved the feat of becoming the longest-serving non-Congress leader to have occupied the Prime Minister’s Office as he completed 2,268 days, surpassing former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), which comes under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), is expected to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of health services in the country, the government has said.
Welcoming the announcement by the prime minister, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, “Based on the initial learnings in the UTs, we will gradually work in partnership with the states to launch the NDHM. I seek the whole-hearted support, inputs and cooperation of doctors, healthcare facilities, citizens and state governments to adopt this game-changing scheme.”
