Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A circular issued by Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, a central government institute, has asked all its staffers to mandatorily get their health IDs created under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

The directive has triggered concern among doctors at the institution as the Union government has so far maintained that creation of digital health IDs, which will allow individuals to store their health records and reports longitudinally, is a voluntary exercise. 

The NDHM, rolled out in six Union Territories on a pilot basis, was launched by PM Narendra Modi on August 15. As per the draft NDHM policy, the objective of the mission is “…to create a system of digital personal and medical health records which is easily accessible to individuals and health service providers and is purely voluntary in nature, based on the consent of individuals”.

The circular issued last week by the PGIMER administration, undersigned by the director and the medical superintendent, says otherwise. 

“The registration for generating Health IDs is mandatory for all the citizens and Chandigarh administration has also initiated the registration on the link shared by GoI and directed to: get the facility registered, all the doctors registered and all others and their family members to get registered on this application mandatorily,” it says.

Dr Jagat Ram, director of the institute, could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts but Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Authority which is operationalising the NDHM, said “this is a wrong circular”. “We will take it up with the hospital. They can’t do it,” he told The Morning Standard. 

Praveen Gedam, NHA deputy CEO who is in-charge of the mission, insisted there was a misunderstanding on part of the hospital. “It is optional for individuals to get health IDs and even after generating IDs, they can opt out. We will get in touch with PGIMER and repeat these instructions.”