Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission crosses over 40 mn linked health records

As the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission crossed the landmark of 4 crores of digitally linked health records, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government is committed to building a robust, interoperable and inclusive digital health ecosystem for a healthy India.

"Milestone Moment! Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission crosses the landmark of 4 crores digitally linked health records. PM Narendra Modi ji's Govt is committed to building a robust, inter-operable and inclusive digital health ecosystem for a healthy India," Mandaviya said in a tweet.

The flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is making steady progress in building a comprehensive digital health ecosystem for the country.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with over 4 crore digital health records linked to the ABHA accounts of individuals, the scheme has crossed a significant milestone.

"More than 29 crore citizens have generated their unique Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) so far," the ministry said.

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.

Elaborating on ABDM's role in digitizing health records, Dr RS Sharma, CEO od National Health Authority (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."

Sharma said that they are planning to launch an incentive scheme for health facilities such as hospitals, clinics, diagnostic labs etc. to further promote digitization of health records.

"We are also encouraging different health locker applications to integrate with ABDM so that citizens get more choice for storing and managing their digital records," he said.

"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.

This digital linking of individual's 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.