Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare today visited National Health Authority (NHA) to conduct a high-level review of the implementation of the flagship health protection mission, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and National Digital Health Mission (NDHM). He interacted with several officials taking a complete review of implementation of both the schemes covering all important aspects.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Health and Family Welfare said, “The National Digital Health Mission was launched under the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, to expand access to timely, affordable, safe healthcare for all 1.3 billion citizens wherever they are and whenever they need. The NDHM will digitalize healthcare by creating a country-wide digital health ecosystem that will enable patients to store, access and consent to share their health records with doctors and health facilities of their choice.”

The Minister visited NHA office where he was given a full demo of the key systems of NDHM – HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, eHospital, Patient Health Records and Consent Manager by Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Authority in the presence of Dr. Praveen Gedam, Additional CEO and Dr. Vipul Aggarwal, Deputy CEO, NHA. Sharing his observations, Dr. Vardhan said, “Today, I reviewed NDHM and I am happy to note that in just a little over 3 months, the mission has made notable progress in its pilot in six Union Territories and will soon be ready for a national roll-out. From both the citizen and medical practitioner point of view, the mission is privacy and security-led and will enable consent-based sharing of health information in the form of test reports, scans, prescriptions and diagnosis reports between patients and treating medicos thereby making follow-up care seamless, secure and timely.”

Commenting further, Dr. Vardhan said, “One of the most remarkable aspects of NDHM is that it takes into account the lived realities of Indians spread across the digital divide. NDHM will empower millions of citizens without smartphones or those in remote tribal areas facing connectivity issues to still avail healthcare through its offline modules.”

The Health Minister also reviewed the implementation of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY which completed two years on 23^rd September this year. Appreciating the progress of the scheme, Dr. Vardhan said, “In these unprecedented times, I am pleased to know that more than 1.4 crore cashless treatments worth over Rs. 17,500 crore have been provided to the poorest citizens under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. During the height of the pandemic, Government of India has been careful to not lose focus away from critical illnesses and ensured that all those needing such essential healthcare were provided the same. This has resulted in savings of nearly Rs. 35,000 crore to the people. We understand that this health assurance and its delivery is a huge source of support and security for millions of families reeling under the extreme stress of serious illness amidst this pandemic.”