Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : June 2, 2022 11:00 AM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) on September 27, 2021 after he announced the pilot project on August 15, 2021. Also known as Pradhan Mantri Digital Health Mission, this initiative was taken to improve India's digital healthcare infrastructure.
The National Digital Health Mission aims to digitally reconcile the gap among different stakeholders in India's healthcare sector as well as connect medical practitioners and patients digitally.
One of the objectives of NDHM is to create and promote digital health cards, which will hold credible data of medical experts, medical workers, healthcare institutions, clinics, pharmacies and drugs. Additionally, international grade health records of individuals would be created with their sane consent, which will help exchange records easily among patients, healthcare professionals and service providers.
You can register with a unique healthcare ID that will identify you as a card holder. The heath card will contain every detail and current health record of the cardholder. Every health ID will be linked to health data managers, who will exchange health records between medical practitioners and patients with their due consent. The registration can be done online on the official website or through the NDHM ID app.
Every Indian citizen is eligible to apply for National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and fetch the facilities of the mission. The program is being implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA).
Dr. Monica Gulati, Executive Dean, Lovely Professional University Faculty for Applied Medical Sciences, strongly believes that the National Digital Health Mission will significantly enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of healthcare delivery.
She said, "It will be a major step toward achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 of Universal Health Coverage. One of the major changes that should be expected out of NDHM is how it aims to develop, create, and deploy core and common digital building elements for the healthcare industry. It will facilitate the connection and link between the individuals and the healthcare providers,"
"Also, anyone (citizens, doctors, and hospitals) can now access the digital health mission website and register with some basic information, and hospitals can connect their health data with the current system. Core registries will be created that will be the health ID for the citizens of this country. There will be healthcare professional registration for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals that will be expanded to include more healthcare employees," Dr. Gulati added.
Dr. Roshan Tiwari, general physician, Tattvan E Clinics, opined that NDHM will help address the problem of shortage of healthcare staff in India, especially in rural areas, to certain extend.
He stated, "Following a global trend, we can easily say that healthcare needs created by the coronavirus pandemic will go beyond our capacity. At present India has 1154686 registered doctors in the specialty of modern medicine, and a single government allopathic doctor caters to the need of 10926 persons."
Dr. Tiwari, added, "Currently, 60 per cent of the Indian population lives in rural India. In such a critical scenario we need a specialized healthcare infrastructure which includes specialty and general doctors, nursing staff, ventilators, ICU, HDU, etc. Government should take such initiative to specialize all above 100-bed hospitals by teaching and training for different specialties including respiratory critical care anesthesia general medicine emergency medicine, etc."
