Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission through video conferencing on Monday.
While launching the Ayushman Bharat digital mission, PM Modi said: "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."
The Prime Minister said that the campaign, which has been going on for the last seven years to strengthen the health services of the country, is entering a new phase from today.
He also talked about the Arogya Setu app and said it helped a lot in preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection.
"We have been able to take the vaccine to everyone, under the free vaccine campaign. India has been able to apply about 90 crore vaccine doses today, and Co-WIN has a big role in it," he said.
PM Modi noted that there has also been an unprecedented expansion of telemedicine during the pandemic period. "So far about 125 crore remote consultations have been completed through e-Sanjeevani. This facility is connecting thousands of countrymen living in far-flung parts of the country every day with doctors of big hospitals of cities while sitting at home," said PM Modi.
The Prime Minister further said that through Ayushman Bharat-PM-JAY, the government have been able to eliminate the great concern of the life of the poor. "So far more than 2 crore countrymen have availed the facility of free treatment under this scheme. In this also half the beneficiaries are our mothers, sisters, daughters," he said. "130 crore Aadhaar numbers...118 crore mobile subscribers... about 80 crore internet users... about 43 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts... nowhere in the world there exist such big connected infrastructure. This digital infrastructure is taking the ration from the administration to the common Indian in a fast, and transparent manner," added the Prime Minister.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will provide a digital health ID to people which will contain their health records. The pilot project of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission was announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15 last year. Currently, the programme is being implemented on a pilot basis in six Union Territories.
Ahead of the launch Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "On 15th August 2020, PM Modi had announced the mission (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission) from the ramparts of the Red Fort. I am happy that he is launching it today. I believe that this will bring a revolutionary change in the health sector."
Here's all you need to know about the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission:
According to PMO, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will create a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.
"Based on the foundations laid down in the form of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM) trinity and other digital initiatives of the government, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will create a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information. The Mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent," PMO said.
The key components of the Mission 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/hospitals and healthcare service providers.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox, created as a part of the Mission, will act as a framework for technology and product testing that will help organizations, including private players, intending to be a part of the National Digital Health Ecosystem become a Health Information Provider or Health Information User or efficiently link with building blocks of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.
PMO said that the Mission will create interoperability within the digital health ecosystem, similar to the role played by the Unified Payments Interface in revolutionizing payments. "Citizens will only be a click away from accessing healthcare facilities," PMO added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
