Abha ID 'must' for patients in medical college hospitals: How to create one

Abha number is a 14 digit identification number that uniquely identifies a patient as a participant in the digital healthcare ecosystem

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has emphasised strongly that all the medical colleges ‘must’ ensure that the patients seeking registrations at their hospitals have an Ayushman Bharat Health Account or Abha ID.

“...All medical colleges must ensure Abha ID as a prerequisite for registration of patients visiting for the OPD/IPD/ emergency services in hospitals attached to them. All patients, OP and IP, must have registration done with the Abha ID in addition to the hospital’s registration number,” a public notice dated June 4 read.

A patient’s Abha number is a 14 digit identification number, aimed uniquely identifying them as a participant in the digital healthcare ecosystem. It acts as a one stop shop to store all the health records of a patient digitally.

The regulatory body took the decision during its 14th meeting held on May 1.

Can patients be denied services for not having Abha ID?

The Commission has endorsed a strong need to have authentication of patients and other clinical material in the hospital for decision on the prospects of a college (increased seats in UG or PG, new college, annual renewal of permission and recognition to admit students), the notice read.

However, the NMC clarified that “no patient should be denied treatment without the Abha ID.”

“For decisions in the assessment for the academic year of 2025-26 and thereafter, the patients and related clinical material authenticated with Abha ID will only be counted,” the circular read further.

In October 2023, the body had decided to notify the medical colleges about encouraging the patients to register through a unique Abha ID. “This process through the HMIS data provides reliable data on the clinical material available in each college for the purpose of UG/ PG training,” the NMC gave the reason behind the decision.

How to create an Abha ID online? Step by step process:

The creation of Abha ID is a simple process that can be executed with the help of an Aadhaar card, which has already been made available to over 1.3 billion people in India.

1) One can create their Abha account by visiting the Centre’s dedicated website: https://abha.abdm.gov.in/abha/v3/

2) The website allows a user to create their account using an Aadhaar card or a driving licence

3) The user has to enter their 12-digit unique identity number (available on the Aadhaar card) and give their consent to willingly share their identity information with the National Health Authority (NHA)

4) To complete the process of registration, the user’s mobile number must be linked with Aadhaar as it will be required for OTP authentication

What is an Abha address?

5) Once the Aadhaar authentication takes place, the user will be asked to fill in further communication details. After this they will have to create an Abha address in the next step. “Abha address is a unique identifier (self-declared username) that enables you to share and access your health records digitally,” the website says

6) The Abha address may look like ‘yourname@consent manager’. For example, ‘xyz@abdm’ is an Abha address with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) Consent Manager that will facilitate health data exchange for the user with appropriate consent on the ABDM network

Can the already generated Abha number be deleted?

7) “You can use your Abha number to seamlessly sign up for an Abha address and ensure that the health records created for you are shared only with you. To enable health data sharing, it is recommended that you create an ABDM Abha address and link it with your Abha number,” the instructions say further

8) The user can participate at your own free will and choose to create your Abha number voluntarily. Also, at any time, the user can request for permanent deletion or temporary deactivation of their Abha number