Economic Survey: U-WIN Portal Transformed Immunisation Drive, 7.44 CR Beneficiaries Recorded

U-WIN's seamless access to immunisation records, flexible scheduling, 'anytime access', and 'anywhere' vaccination, improved efficiency and effectiveness while supporting holistic digital health management.

New Delhi:The U-WIN portal, where beneficiaries can self-register to track vaccination schedules, has 7.44 crore beneficiaries enrolment, aided in conducting 1.26 crore vaccination sessions, and recording 27.84 crore doses administered as of November 27, 2024, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25.

The survey dubbed it as "a transformative step in India's immunisation efforts".

The pre-budget survey tabled in the Parliament on Friday referred to the initiatives that saw technology integration in healthcare delivery for timely diagnoses and recommendations of personalised treatments to telehealth technologies that connect patients and health professionals in a virtual space to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

The report described U-WIN as a user-friendly platform that enables seamless access to immunisation records, flexible scheduling, 'anytime access', and 'anywhere' vaccination.

The service allows beneficiaries to self-register via the web portal or mobile app. The registered users will be able to track schedules, and receive SMS reminders for upcoming doses. It also generates QR-based e-vaccination certificates, while facilitating the creation of Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) for parents and children. These features make it a service that offers a holistic digital health management.

The portal is offered in 11 regional languages. Over 1.7 crore pregnant women and 5.4 crore children have been registered digitally and more than 26.4 crore vaccine doses tracked in real-time, it stated.

It also recorded its appreciation for e-Sanjeevani— the national telemedicine service, for emerging as the world's largest telemedicine implementation in primary healthcare.

As on November 12, 2024, the survey said, the service has catered to over 31.19 crore patients. They were served through 1.29 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandir as spokes, which are served by 16,447 hubs and 676 online OPDs with support of more than 22,5,286 doctors, medical specialists, super-specialists and health workers.

The integration and use of technology have the potential to offer viable solutions to problems of quality, accessibility and affordability, the survey said.

"One such example is the potential to prevent loss of lives and save time by leveraging drones for the delivery of medicines in difficult geographies and in times of emergencies," it noted.

As for drones, it said the technology is "transforming healthcare in India by ensuring rapid delivery of life-saving medicines and collecting samples from remote and inaccessible areas, proving indispensable during emergencies".

The project 'i-DRONE' (ICMR's Drone Response and Outreach for North East) was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in October 2021 to assess the feasibility of using drones to deliver vaccines and medical supplies.

The exercise was conducted in rugged geographical terrains of the northeast (Manipur and Nagaland), including land, islands, foothills and across the hills.

Following the study's success, this initiative has been expanded and now includes delivering medical essentials at high altitudes in Himachal Pradesh, transporting tuberculosis samples in Telangana and moving pathological samples in Karnataka, it stated.