AWS, govt join hands to advance healthcare with UHI, integrated records

From CoWIN to U-WIN, AWS and government building tech to strengthen healthcare in the country

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the driving force behind the cloud infrastructure of notable India Stack applications from DigiLocker to CoWIN, is setting its sights on newer collaborations with the Indian government. This includes ambitious projects such as Digital Health IDs and the Unified Health Interface (UHI). As the company outlines plans to pour $16.4 billion into India by 2030, Pankaj Gupta, Leader – Public Sector Enterprises and Government, Healthcare, AWS India, delineates the next strategic steps in the company's voyage. Edited excerpts:

With the government's announcement of overhauling the CoWIN platform for wider immunisation, is AWS playing a role in this project? Could you apprise us of its current status?

CoWIN has been repurposed into a universal vaccination platform called U-WIN. We're targeting close to 100 million individuals, including infants, expecting women, and mothers nursing their newborns. This platform now caters to 12 additional vaccines, including Diphtheria, BCG, Polio, and Tetanus. Initially in its pilot phase due to the vast integration required, the government has since rolled it out nationwide, although user metrics remain undisclosed.

What are some of the other such projects where AWS is supporting healthcare digital public goods?

The National Health Authority of India is at the forefront of building a robust infrastructure for public healthcare via the Unified Health Interface (UHI). This aims to emulate the success of UPI in the financial sector, providing a foundation for private sector innovations. Arogya Setu, the pioneering government app, introduces a 14-digit health ID. This will let users consolidate existing and future health records under a consent management framework. Envisage this as a HealthLocker, a parallel to DigiLocker, safeguarded by user consent.

Given AWS's longstanding association with Indian governmental agencies, have you noticed an evolution in the government's perspective towards cloud computing?

India is witnessing a digital metamorphosis across primary sectors, and this journey has only just begun. We're delving deeper into these very sectors. Take CoWIN, for instance, the monumental vaccination platform. Launched initially for frontline and healthcare workers, it expanded its reach from 200,000 users to facilitating 25 million vaccinations in the same year. Our APIs experienced a surge from 2 million to a staggering 2.5 billion hits. This accomplishment has fortified the government's trust in us, amplifying their appreciation for the cloud's agility, cost-efficiency, security, and capacity for innovation.

What will be the future focus area for the partnership between AWS and the Indian government?

Beyond supporting existing applications, our focus is on preserving comprehensive health records of individuals from birth, integrated with platforms centred around maternal and child health. A notable addition is the recently launched Poshan Tracker, a national initiative under the National Nutrition Mission. This platform monitors nutrition for a target group of 100 million, encompassing children, expectant women, and nursing mothers. Real-time data is now sourced from around 1.4 million Anganwadi centres nationwide. Consequently, previously isolated platforms are now converging.