What is the ABDM?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 2020 Independence Day speech announced a major digital initiative in the form of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (previously known as National Digital Health Mission).
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) project will provide a health ID to every person in the country, and benefit the poor. 

ABDM in Detail

• ABDM seeks to provide efficient and affordable health coverage through a wide-range of data and infrastructure services.
• The key feature of this mission is the technology part – it will leverage open digital systems to provide high-quality healthcare for all. It will integrate various digital health services to create an ecosystem which can assimilate existing health information systems.
• The government has said that it will ensure security and privacy of personal information.

What is a health ID?

• Under ABDM, Indian citizens will get a digital health ID which is basically a digital format of all his/her health records which will be linked to the registry of doctors and health facilities across the country.
• The government has said that enrollment in the initiative will be voluntary.
• The health ID will contain information about medical data, prescriptions and diagnostic reports and summaries of previous discharge from hospitals for ailments. The mission is expected to bring efficiency and transparency in healthcare services in the country. 

Expected Benefits

• The ABDM aims to liberate citizens from the challenges of finding the right doctors, seeking appointment with them, payment of consultation fee, making several rounds of hospitals for prescription sheets and will empower all Indians with the correct information and sources enabling them to take an informed decision to avail the best possible healthcare.
• The ABDM comprises six key building blocks or digital systems – HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, e-Pharmacy and Telemedicine – that will enable access to timely, safe and affordable healthcare through a ‘citizen-centric’ approach.

Implementing agency

• • The National Health Authority (NHA), the apex agency responsible for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), has been given the mandate by the government to design, build, roll-out and implement the ABDM in the country. 

• NHA is an attached office of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with full functional autonomy.

Why in News?

• More than one lakh health care facilities across government and private sector have been successfully onboarded in the Health Facility Registry (HFR) under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). 

Reference

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1839609