Highlights Of PM Modi’s National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day speech, launched the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), an initiative to digitise health records of Indians. He said that the project will provide a health ID to every person in the country, and benefit the poor. The prime minister said that whatever medicine a doctor prescribed when was it prescribed, what were the reports – all this information will be linked to a person’s health ID. The Mission is expected to bring efficiency and transparency in healthcare services in the country.
How will the digital health mission work?
The mission is made of six key components — Health ID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, e-pharmacy, and telemedicine, the National Health Authority statement said. This will mainly work on the lines of the already running Ayushman Bharat scheme. A senior official said that a digital list of doctors to be covered under this scheme will be prepared, which will be known as the Digestor. Any person can contact a better doctor related to his / her disease through a doctor.
What is its special advantage?
The unique medical identity provided under the scheme to every patient is envisaged to improve efficiency and cut a lot of paperwork which a patient has to take care of before visiting a new hospital. The health ID will reportedly be applicable across states, hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and pharmacies. The government has also assured that the data provided will be protected and health records will only be shared after authorisation by an individual. The NDHM’s document also states that health records will be accessible and shareable by the patient with appropriate consent and complete control of the records will remain with the patient.
National Digital Health Mission will have two major pillars
Dr. Praveen Gedan, the deputy CEO of the National Health Authority, hoped that most of the doctors and hospitals in the country would join the scheme and that the general public’s medical record would be digitized. Work on the two pillars of ‘National Digital Health Mission’ e-pharmacy and telemedicine is yet to be done. After the removal of some legal hurdles in this way, they will also be made operational. Under the e-pharmacy, arrangements will be made to deliver affordable medicines to the people at home. At the same time, doctors sitting at home under telemedicine can be consulted. The objective of all these platforms will be to provide universal, best and cheapest medicine to the general public.