Context:

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has formulated the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) with the aim to provide the necessary support for the integration of digital health infrastructure in the country.

National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)

• The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) aims to provide the necessary support for the integration of digital health infrastructure in the country.
• This visionary initiative, stemming from the National Health Policy, 2017 intends to digitize healthcare in India.
• National Health Authority (NHA) has been entrusted with the role of designing strategy, building technological infrastructure, and implementation of.
• National Digital Health Mission.
• NHA is also an apex body for implementation of Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana” (AB-PMJAY).
• The NDHM is a collaborative initiative between many ministries/departments.

Digital System

• Health ID: Health ID is to be used to uniquely identify persons, authenticate them, and threading their health records (only with the informed consent of the patient) across multiple systems and stakeholders.
• Digi-Doctor: It is a comprehensive repository of all doctors practicing or teaching modern/ traditional systems of medicine. Enrolling in Digi-Doctor is completely voluntary and enables doctors to get connected to India’s digital health ecosystem.
• Health Facility Registry (HFR): It is a comprehensive repository of health facilities of the country across different systems of medicine.
• Personal Health Records (PHR): PHR is an electronic record of health-related information of an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be drawn from multiple sources while being managed, shared, and controlled by the individual.
• Electronic Medical Records: EMR is a digital version of a patient’s treatment history from a single facility.