Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Over 56.67 Crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts Created and 34.89 Crore Health Records Linked
Government welfare schemes like the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) are not only helping to bridge the digital divide but are also helping people get access to healthcare in an efficient, accessible, inclusive, affordable, timely, and safe manner.
The government of India launched the ABDM to build a comprehensive digital health ecosystem for the country. It aims to create an online platform enabling interoperability of health data within the health ecosystem. The aim of this mission is to create an Electronic Health Record (EHR) of every citizen.
The mission aims to develop the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.
It provides for assisted and offline mode for the creation of Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) for areas with limited internet connectivity or hardware. Various applications such as the ABHA app and the Aarogya Setu have also been launched. The mission aims to bridge the gap between different stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem digitally.
The flagship scheme was launched with an outlay of ₹1,600 crore for 5 years from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Till February 29, 2024, more than 56.67 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) have been created and over 34.89 crore health records have been linked. The ABHA app is a digital repository of a person’s medical records. Through the app, the users can also connect with the healthcare professionals registered on it.
Around 2.35 lakh health facilities have been verified on the Health Facility Registry under ABDM. Of these medical facilities, 69,633 are private, and over 1.66 lakh are government. Moreover, there are over 2.84 lakh health professionals attached to the scheme.
The Healthcare Professionals Registry is a comprehensive repository of registered and verified healthcare practitioners across India. ABDM empowers the registry to on-board medical professionals onto India’s digital health ecosystem and connects patients to healthcare providers.
ABDM has also taken strides in achieving gender parity. As of February 29, 2024, as many as 27.73 crore women and 29.11 crore men have benefitted from ABHA.
The ABDM has thus developed the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.
Under the scheme, funding for Human Resources, Capacity Building (CB) & Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities is provided to all States and Union Territories (UTs) to drive this mission and to facilitate necessary handholding support in on-boarding all the facilities/ health professionals and to integrate all state health programmes/ solutions under ABDM ecosystem.
Health-tech startups have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare sector by supporting innovations. ABDM thus promotes adoption of open standards by all digital health stakeholders including health tech startups.
Government has set up an ABDM sandbox to integrate these solutions to ABDM ecosystem. Government has also launched various initiatives like the Digital Health Incentive Scheme, microsites, collaboration with pharmacies and laboratories to accelerate adoption of digital health, particularly focused towards private sector including startups.
To ensure the effective implementation of ABDM, the Union Health Ministry provides financial assistance to States/UTs for human resources, information education & communication (IEC), and capacity building including necessary handholding support in onboarding the facilities/ health professionals and integrate state health digital health programs/solutions under ABDM ecosystem.
Union Health Ministry also provides financial assistance to all States/UTs under National Health Mission for strengthening of health infrastructure for the implementation of IT interventions such as Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) and telemedicine services across the country.
