The pilot project of the National Digital Health Mission was announced by the prime minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2020.

“Today is a very important day. The drive to strengthen the health facilities of the country, in the last 7 years, is entering a new phase today. This is not an ordinary phase. This is an extraordinary phase,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, lauding the digital initiatives in the country.

During the address, PM Modi also praised the CoWIN platform – the government’s centralised digital service provider and records-keeper for COVID-19 vaccination appointments and certificates, declaring “from registration to certification, no system is as massive”. The Prime Minister underlined that India had administered over 86 crore vaccine doses since the inoculation drive began in January, and credited the CoWIN platform with a “big role”.

Currently, the project is being implemented in the pilot phase in six Union Territories. The nationwide rollout of the project coincides with National Health Authority (NHA) celebrating the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the statement said. The mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent, a release from the PMO said.

The key components of the project include a health ID for every citizen that will also work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application, a Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) that will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine

This will ensure ease of doing business for doctors and hospitals and healthcare service providers, the statement said.

This mission will create interoperability within the digital health ecosystem, similar to the role played by the Unified Payments Interface in revolutionising payments, the PMO said

Citizens will only be a click-away from accessing healthcare facilities, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)