National Digital Health Mission

National Digital Health Mission

It is a matter of great pleasure to have this opportunity to speak about the importance of the National Digital Health Mission. The mission will achieve the vision for Universal Health Coverage by providing online health services in a time and place-independent manner to every individual in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Digital Health Mission, while addressing the nation from Red Fort on India's 74th Independence Day.

The NDHM is a complete digital health ecosystem. The digital platform will be launched with four key features — health ID, personal health records, Digi Doctor and health facility registry.

The vision of NDHM is to create a national digital health ecosystem which provides timely and efficient access to inclusive, affordable, and safe healthcare to all citizens.

NDHM will significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of health service delivery and will be a major stride towards achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 of Universal Health Coverage, including financial risk protection.

What is Health ID?

As per the National Health Authority (NHA), every patient who wishes to have their health records available digitally must start by creating a unique Health ID.

The health ID will contain information about medical data, prescriptions and diagnostic reports, and summaries of previous discharge from hospitals for ailments.

Each Health ID will be linked to a health data consent manager — such as National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) — which will be used to seek the patient’s consent and allow for seamless flow of health information from the Personal Health Records module.

This ID is to be created by using a person’s basic details and mobile number or Aadhaar number.

Privacy of data

Data privacy has become a hot topic in recent years, with the rise of the internet and new technologies. It is often discussed as a right, rather than something that might be given voluntarily by corporations. There are various different approaches to data privacy, each proposing different approaches on how to ensure data privacy.

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.

The mission will also require doctors/hospitals to upload a digital copy of any health reports being physically shared with the patient to enable the creation of health records.