India to launch digital health mission

The government is all set to launch the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) to make health care in the country more effective. For improving the health care sector in India, this is the third initiative taken by the ministry after the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).

New Delhi: In an effort to provide better health care services to all in the country, the Union Health Ministry is all set to launch the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

This would be the third such initiative taken by the ministry after the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) for improving the health care sector in the country.

"The initiative taken by the Health Ministry is very significant as it will take health care services to the remotest area of the country," Dr Girdhar Gyani, Director General of Association of Healthcare Providers told ETV Bharat here.

He said that with the limited number of doctors and hospitals, the NDHM could develop India's health care sector.

"We have limited resources including doctors and hospitals. For example, we have 1.3 bed per thousand population in our country but we need 3.5 beds in tier 3 cities, we don't even have hospitals. Taking all this into consideration the NDHM would be of great help," he said.

Sources in the health ministry said that with the digital health services, the health history of a person will easily be available at the click of a mouse.

The digital health mission proposes a unique health ID.

The ministry has circulated the final draft to the stakeholders for their feedback after which it will be notified.

In fact, the National Health Policy 2017 emphasised on leveraging digital technologies for enhancing the effectiveness of all healthcare delivery services.

"We have sub-health centres equipped with the latest technology in different locations across the country. With the help of digital health mission, the health report of the individual could be sent to the hospitals for further actions," Dr Gyani said.

The major objectives of the digital health care mission are establishing and managing the digital health data, developing multiple digital health system for different sectors, creating a system of electronic health records.