PM launches digital health ID mission
AMBITIOUS SCHEME TARGETS UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
PThis digital infrastructure is bringing everything from ration to administration to the common Indian in a fast and transparent manner.”
Narendra Modi | Prime Minister
rime Minister Narendra Modi launched a programme that will create a unique digital health identity for over 1.3 billion citizens and allow them to access their records online, part of an effort to enhance efficiency in a healthcare system constrained by the pandemic.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, unveiled yesterday, aims to create digital health infrastructure to provide universal health coverage with unique health identification numbers for all citizens. This will allow citizens to link all their health records to this ID through a mobile application.
Privacy concerns
The launch comes amid concerns over privacy and surveillance in India, given there is no data protection law in the country and a panel of lawmakers are scrutinizing a bill. Critics have said the government is using the pandemic to make a case for digitizing health records.
“Today begins a Mission that has the power to bring a revolutionary change in India’s health facilities. Three years ago, on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s birth anniversary, Ayushman Bharat Yojana was implemented. Happy that Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is being started nationwide from today,” said Modi. He underlined that with 130 crore [1.3 billion] Aadhaar [ID card] numbers, 1.18 billion mobile subscribers, about 80 crore Internet users and about 430 million Jan Dhan bank accounts, there could be no bigger connected infrastructure anywhere in the world.
“This digital infrastructure is bringing everything from ration to administration [ration to prashasan] to the common Indian in a fast and transparent manner. The way technology is being deployed in governance reforms today is unprecedented,” the Prime Minister said.
Continuing with the theme of the use of technology in health, Modi said that there has also been an unprecedented expansion of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic period. So far about 1.25 billion remote consultations have been completed through e-Sanjeevani.
Big investment
The Prime Minister remarked that Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY has addressed a key headache in the lives of the poor and so far more than 20 million citizens have availed the facility of free treatment under this scheme, half of whom are women. “These healthcare solutions are a big investment in the present and future of the country,” he said.
Modi said that India is working on a health model that is holistic and inclusive. “A model which stresses preventive healthcare and, in case of disease, easy, affordable and accessible treatment,” he said.