PM Modi announces digital health ID: All you need to know

NEW DELHI: The highlight of the National Digital Health Mission is a national Health ID which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday during his address to the nation on India's 74th Independence Day. The mission has been rolled out on a pilot bases in six Union Territories starting Saturday and comprises of six digital products including the Health ID.
Here is all you need to know about the national Health ID:
* The national Health ID will be a repository of all health-related information of a person. The health ID will contain information about medical data, prescriptions and diagnostic reports and summaries of previous discharge from hospitals for ailments.
* The Health ID is one of the six building-blocks of the National Digital Health Mission which are: HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, e-Pharmacy and Telemedicine. All these digital products, except e-Pharmacy and Telemedicine, are up and running.
* A citizen will be able to access their Health ID through an app or a website. To make a Health ID, a person would need to provide their basic details, a mobile number and an Aadhaar number. Once the ID is created, a person will be able to link all their health records to this digital ID which will be unique to them.
* The ownership of this health record database will lie with the individual. A person will have to grant a health practitioner access to the health record for them to see it. For this, every individual's Health ID will be linked to a health data consent manager — like the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).
* Linking of the health ID with the Aadhar will create patient registries for big data analytics, which will allow physicians to track the health status of their patients, perform better predictive analyses, and improve health outcomes.
* The idea of a national Health ID for every individual was first envisaged in the National Health Policy 2017. In June 2018, Niti Aayog proposed a digital Health ID under the National Health Stack with the aim to reduce the the risk of preventable medical errors and improve healthcare by enabling a longitudinal view of health records.
* Last month, Niti Aayog's proposal was taken up by the Centre and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the National Health Authority and the Ministry of Electronics and IT prepared a strategy overview document.
* As per the strategy overview document, the health ID system will have participants such as hospitals, laboratories, insurance companies, online pharmacies, telemedicine firms.
* While every person will have the option to get themselves a digital health ID, if someone does not want to make one then they will still be allowed access to medical treatment, as per the Niti Aayog strategy overview document.
(With inputs from agencies)