Lok Sabha Question No. 313 (STARRED), answered on 2018-03-16
Subject: National Digital Health Authority
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: ANWHAR RAAJHAA, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 313 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 16 TH MARCH, 2018 NATIONAL DIGITAL HEALTH AUTHORITY

## *313. SHRI A. ANWHAR RAAJHAA: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

Will  the  Minister  of HEALTH  AND  FAMILY  WELFARE be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  any  proposal  to  set  up  a  National  Digit Health Authority for creating frameworks, regulations and guidelines for interoperabili ty and exchange of digital information;
- (b) if so, the details including the present status and the salient features Authority along with the time by which the Authority is likely to be set up a functioning;
- (c) thextent to which the digital health platform is likely to benefit th across the country;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  utilize  the  digital  platform  to awareness  among  the  people  about  healthcare  initiatives  and  if  so,  the thereof; and
- (e)  the  steps  taken  to  strengthen  the  health  surveillance  system  and  es registries for diseases of public health importance?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE ( SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA )

- (a)to ( e) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 313* FOR 16 TH MARCH, 2018

(a)& (b) Yes. M inistry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) plans to set up a nodal  body  in  form  of  'National  Digita l  Health Authority'  through  an  a ct  of parliament as a statutory body for promotion/ adoption of e - Health standards, to enforce  privacy  &  security measures  for  electronic  health  data and  to  regulate storage & exchange of Electronic Health Records.

The Draft Act has been approved for putting it in public domain for invitin comments.

- (c) The digital healthcare platform is likely to benefit the people in th ways such as:
1. Improving Health Literacy
2. Better  focus  on  preventive  &  promotive  healthcare  along  with  cu rative healthcare
3. Better off -take of healthcare services
4. Improved & efficient delivery of services through online applications viz. facilities directories, blood bank availability, registration/appoint hospitals, payment for services, feed back mechanism etc.
5. Ensuring rationalization of treatment and avoidance of investigation.

duplication

6. Aiding  improved  clinicians'  decision - making  by  providing  access  to  patient health record information when they need it.
7. Reduce frequency of hospital vi sit & management of chronic diseases.
8. Continuity of care across levels of care and for reaching out to rural an areas through Telemedicine and m - Health applications.
9. It  also  has  great  scope  along  with  other  communication  channels  like internet for creation of online clinical and non - clinical learning materials that can transform system of training and distance education.
5. (d) Yes. National Health Portal set up by Ministry of Health and Family Welf being used for information dissemination and for creating awareness about various Healthcare  initiatives.  As  of  now,  broadly  the  following  information  ( -lingual) is available for citizens on the National Health Portal ( www.nhp.gov.in): -
- i. Health and Diseases -especially current public health alerts.
- ii. Directory  Services -Hospitals,  Blood  Banks,  Ambulances -according  to state / city / PIN Code.
- iii. Health programmes of Government

For creating healthcare awareness using Mobile platform, Government has a launched following mHealth applications:

- i. Kilkari,  an  audio - based  mobile  service,  to  deliver  free,  weekly,  time -appropriate  audio  messages  about  pregnancy,  child  birth  and  ch ild  care delivery to families' mobile phones.
- ii. SMS based Programme for Tobacco Cessation.
- iii. A dedicated toll free number with a call centre for reaching unreache patients.
- iv. Various Mobile applications and widgets have been developed to access t he features and facilities of the NHP through mobile phones
- v. Various  mobile  apps  were  launched  recently  such  as  India  Fights  Dengu mobile  app,  NHP  Swasth  Bharat  mobile  app  and  NHP  Indradhanush Immunization mobile app.
- vi. A  toll - free  number  for  citizens  to access  reliable,  easy  to  understand  and multilingual health information available on NHP.

(e)  M inistry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare is  running  Integrated  Disease Surveillance Program in all States of the country which is an IT enabled d surveillance system for epidemic prone diseases to monitor disease trends and detect  and  respond  to  outbreaks  in  early  rising  phase  through  trained Response Team (RRTs)

Ministry  is  also  taking  steps  to  upgrade  this  system  to  strengthen  d surveillance i n thecountry.

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