New Delhi: In a significant milestone, 4 crore digital health records of individuals have been linked to the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers in India. A total of 29 crore citizens have generated their unique ABHA cards so far. With their health records linked to their ABHA accounts digitally, citizens will be able to access and manage these records at their convenience.
This also enables citizens to create a comprehensive medical history across various healthcare providers thereby improving clinical decision-making. People can also share relevant health records with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) registered healthcare providers digitally. With an aim to build a comprehensive digital health ecosystem for the country, Health Ministry launched the flagship scheme ABDM in September last year.
"As the implementing agency for ABDM, National Health Authority (NHA) is working closely with different stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of digital health services can be availed by more citizens," said Dr RS Sharma, CEO of NHA. He said that the ministry is planning to launch an incentive scheme for facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic labs to further promote the digitisation of health records.
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"We are also encouraging different health locker applications to integrate with ABDM so that citizens get more choices for storing and managing their digital records," said Sharma. This digital linking of individuals' health records with ABHA is being carried out extensively across different health facilities of the country with the support of the State governments. "With a continuous focus on digitisation of health records, we aim to achieve paperless medical consultations and thereby more accuracy in each transaction between the patient and health care service providers," Sharma said.
