The national digital health mission was launched in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day, the mission aims to create a digital infrastructure for health care delivery through personal health IDs and e-records of citizens. Apart from the record of citizens, the digital data will contain details of doctors, their qualifications and medical infrastructure available for the residents. In future, it will be linked to e-pharmacy and tele-medicine too. Digital medical cards will enable doctors to look at the medical history of each person at the click of a button. Necessary care will be taken to ensure the privacy of the data and the medical information of card holders.

‘ENTIRE CITY TO BE COVERED WITHIN A MONTH’

UT adviser Manoj Parida said the entire population of the city is expected to be covered under the mission within a month. He also stated that on the first day itself, 4,000 persons registered online and got their digital health cards.

During the war room meeting, the UT administrator had directed the authorities of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, director general of police, municipal corporation commissioner and the deputy commissioner to ensure that, to begin with, all employees working under them register for the digital cards within a week.

Director, health services, Dr G Dewan, who is also the nodal officer for the national digital health mission in Chandigarh, stated that a special drive will be conducted in all sectors to ensure that every resident gets enrolled.

A formal launch took place in Punjab Raj Bhawan today, wherein Punjab governor and UT administrator VP Singh Badnore was the first to get his digital health card.