Lok Sabha Question No. 475 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: National Digital Health Mission
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Pritam Gopinath Munde, Krupal Balaji Tumane, Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Bhavana Gawali (Patil), Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Rahul Ramesh Shewale

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No-475 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2022

## NATIONAL DIGITAL HEALTH MISSION

## 475    SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE:

SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

SHRI SANJAY JADHAV:

SHRIMATI BHAVANA PUNDALIKRAO GAWALI:

SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE:

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

- a)    whether the Government has launched a National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and if so, the details of the said mission including the operationalisation /implementation thereof;
- b)    the budget allocation made under the said mission and the time by which the mission is likely to be completed;
- c)    whether it is mandatory for all citizens to register themselves for a digital health ID card under the said mission and if so, the methodology and rules/regulations taken into cognizance for doing so;
- d)     whether  the  Government  has  held  consultations  with  experts  regarding  NDHM  and National Digital Health ID Card projects, if so, the details thereof;
- e)   the names of the companies and firms involved in the work relating to National Health Management Policy and the details of the data proposed to be collected under NDHM; and
- f)    the present status of issuance of Health ID Cards in places where the said scheme is being implemented along with the number of such identity cards issued so far?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY

## WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a)  to  (f) The National  Digital  Health  Mission  (now  known  as  Ayushman  Bharat  Digital Mission) was launched on 15 th August 2020 in six Union Territories- Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh,  Dadra  &  Nagar  Haveli  and  Daman  &  Diu,  Ladakh,  Lakshadweep  and Puducherry, as a pilot. Its aims to create an online platform enabling interoperability of health data  within  the  health  ecosystem  to  create  longitudinal  electronic  health  record  of  every citizen.

The  pilot  phase  of  ABDM  was  successfully  conducted  between  15 th August  2020  to  27 th September  2021.Three  key  registries  of  NDHM  namely  Health  ID,  Health  Professional Registry (HPR), Health Facility Registry (HFR) and digital infrastructure for data exchange have been developed and implemented in these UTs. On 27 th September 2021, the national rollout of the ABDM has been announced. Till 31 st January 2022, Rs 45 Cr has been released to National Health Authority (NHA) for implementation of ABDM.

Creation of Health ID is voluntary. NHA is creating awareness among the citizens about the usages and advantages of Health ID to maximize participation from citizen.

The government/NHA is continuously holding extensive consultations to finalize the policy and  implementation  related  aspects  of  ABDM  time  to  time  with  key  stakeholders  like insurance  companies,  government  programmes,  licensing  authorities,  medical  councils, officials  from  central  and  state  governments,  development  organizations  and  NGOs  and software developers/technical partners, civic society etc.

Various consultation papers have also been released in the public domain to seek comments on important building blocks of ABDM like the Health Professional Registry, Health Facility Registry, Unified Health Interface, Health data retention policy. The presentations made to stakeholders  during  these  consultations  along  with  the  comments  received  from  various stakeholders are available at https://abdm.gov.in/home/Publications

'Privacy by Design' is one of the key guiding principles of ABDM. Under ABDM, no health data  is  centrally  stored  and  it  facilitates  secure  data  exchange  between  the  intended stakeholders duly following a consent framework.

Till 25th January 2022, 15,05,92,811 Health IDs (now known as ABHA - Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts) have been created in the country.