Andhra tops in creating ABHA ids for its population, Tamil Nadu at bottom

At 67 million, UP first in terms of absolute numbers of ABHA accounts

Of the more than 529 million uniq­ue health IDs or Ayushman Bharat Health Account numbers created, top of the list is Andhra Pradesh with 78 per cent of its population registered.
 

The list shows extreme variations. At the bottom of the list is Tamil Nadu which has covered only 12.2 per cent of its population.

The data from the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission dashboard shows that Andhra Pradesh is followed by Himachal Pradesh (74.7 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (66.7 percent) coverage respectively.
 

Lining up with Tamil Nadu as the worst performers are Bihar (14.7 per cent) and Manipur (18.5 per cent).  
 

According to the National Health Authority, the Ayushman Bharat Health Account number is a unique 14-digit identification number called ABHA ID under which an individual’s medical history, consultation details, prescriptions etc are registered, creating a unique health database.
 

The ABHA ID is used to secure all medical records in a digital locker (with the consent of the individual). This is different from the Ayushman Bharat card which covers the healthcare costs of the poor.
 

The PM-Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) has been rolled out for the bottom 40 per cent of poor and vulnerable citizens, which comes to around 120 million households.

 

Whether households are included or not depends on the deprivation and occupational criteria of the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas, respectively. This number also includes families that were covered in the RSBY but were not present in the SECC 2011 database.
 

Apart from Manipur in the northeast, Arunachal Pradesh also has a low population coverage of just 21.6 per cent for ABHA accounts.
 

While the big states have generated more account numbers, they lag behind in terms of population coverage. Uttar Pradesh stands first in terms of absolute numbers of ABHA accounts created at 67.15 million, but its population coverage stands at just 28 per cent. 
 

Andhra Pradesh remains an outlier in this respect, with the state having the fifth highest number of ABHA accounts at 41.24 million accounts, covering 77.9 per cent of its population.
 

Over 338 million health records have been linked with the ABHA accounts till January 2024, according to data on the ABDM dashboard. Preliminary calculations show that only 63.9 per cent of ABHA numbers have individual health records linked with them.
 

According to an official working with the government of Andhra Pradesh, one individual may link multiple health records for diagnosis, treatment and surgical procedures. These are then added to the national figure cumulatively.
 

“Health records linked to ABHA IDs will keep on increasing as each citizen may visit hospitals multiple times, generating multiple health records like diagnostic and OPD reports and pharmacy records,” he said.