PPP in digital health solutions can catalyse Ayushman Bharat: Commerce Secretary

India is well positioned to offer exemplary digital health solutions through public private partnerships, especially when it has launched the world's largest healthcare programme Ayushman Bharat, a senior government official said on Thursday.

However, this will be possible only with accountable and outcome-oriented models of engagement, said Anup Wadhawan, Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was addressing a roundtable organised by industry body FICCI.

Wadhawan said PPPs in digital health have already started addressing many key challenges. Thus a platform must be established to continue engagement between the government and the private sector while keeping patients at the centre of such discussions.

The PPP models should aim at harnessing the strengths and equitably distribute risks of the partners, said Wadhawan. The government has acknowledged health information as one of the key dimensions of health systems. Several initiatives have been launched including notification of electronic health records, National eHealth Authority (NeHA), Integrated Health Information Programme (IHIP) and National Health Stack (NHS).

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, urged the private sector to establish a platform where promising innovations in digital health can be showcased for adoption as PPPs.

The roundtable brought together about 35 experts representing leading hospital groups, diagnostic labs, medical technology companies, healthcare IT companies and health insurers.

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