Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission launch today; Health ID feature for all coming

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission launch: The highlight of the scheme is a health ID feature for the public. PM Narendra Modi will launch the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission at 11 AM today. Here’s everything you need to know.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission launch: PM Narendra Modi will launch the mission which includes a health ID feature for citizens, which is likely to be tied to a health account that can host all digital health records. (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times) (HT_PRINT)

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is scheduled to be launched today by the Prime Minister via videoconferencing, according to the Prime Minister's Office. Among the highlights of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is a health ID feature for the public. The announcement of the nationwide rollout of the digital mission will be conducted at 11 AM today.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is currently being tested in six union territories in the country, after it was announced during the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on August 15 last year. The program will be announced after a pilot test of the system in the union territories. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will also enable private players to become part of the health ecosystem.

Prime Minister @narendramodi to launch Pradhan Mantri Digital Health Mission

⏰: 11:00 AM

Watch on PIB's

YouTube: https://t.co/WN7nF6D4kr

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— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 27, 2021

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission includes a health ID feature for citizens. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission health ID will be tied to a health account that can host people's digital health records. Since they are uploaded online, they can be accessed using computers or smartphones, with a user's consent. The addition of a health ID could prove to be quite useful in a country like India, where medical records of patients are rarely complete or readily available. The announcement of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission rollout also coincides with the third anniversary of the launch of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – also known as the AB PMJAY program.

In addition to the health ID for citizens, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will also include two new registries as part of a push to help healthcare professionals and healthcare providers like hospitals and clinics – a Healthcare Facilities Registries and a Healthcare Professionals Registry. Private players can also become Health Information Users or Health Information Providers, granting them access to the digital health ecosystem created by the government.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is part of the aforementioned program which works under the National Health Authority, an apex body that is tasked with implementing the country's biggest public health insurance/assurance scheme. It also handles the creation and improvement of the national digital health mission, to create a national digital health ecosystem, according to the NHA's website.