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National Digital Health Mission Vision, Objective, Background And More

Madhavi Gaur September 30, 2023 03:37 3362 0

PM Modi inaugurated the National Digital Health Mission on August 15, 2020. National Digital Health mission aims to establish an integrated healthcare system.

National Digital Health Mission Vision, Objective, Background And More

National Digital Health Mission

National Digital Health Mission: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National Digital Health Mission on August 15, 2020. The mission aims to establish an integrated healthcare system connecting practitioners with patients digitally, enabling real-time access to health records. This initiative seeks to facilitate prompt and organized healthcare services across the country.

Important Facts about the National Digital Health Mission

Launch Date: August 15, 2020.
Implementing Authority: National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Objective: Establish a national digital health ecosystem supporting universal health coverage.
Official Website: https://ndhm.gov.in/

Background of National Digital Health Mission

The vision of the National Health Policy 2017 includes achieving the highest level of health and well-being for all individuals at every stage of life. It emphasizes a preventive and promotive health care orientation in all development policies, ultimately striving for universal healthcare access.
To realize this vision, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) established a committee led by J. Satyanarayana. This committee was tasked with developing an implementation framework for the National Health Stack.
Upon its deliberations, the Satyanarayana committee proposed the creation of a National Digital Health Blueprint. This blueprint serves as a guide, outlining the foundational elements and action plan necessary for the implementation of a digital health mission.
In alignment with these recommendations, the National Digital Mission Blueprint suggested the establishment of an entity known as the National Digital Health Mission. This mission is designed to create a digital healthcare ecosystem, providing comprehensive healthcare services throughout the country.

Objectives of National Digital Health Mission

Establishment of Digital Health Systems involves the management of essential digital health data. These systems are designed to handle the infrastructure requirements necessary for a smooth exchange of services. The creation of registries is a key component, encompassing credible data on clinical establishments, healthcare professionals, health workers, drugs, and pharmacies.
To ensure seamless interoperability, the enforcement of adopting open standards is mandated for all national digital health stakeholders. The establishment of standardized personal health records, drawing inspiration from international standards, allows for easy sharing between individuals, healthcare professionals, and service providers, contingent upon individual informed consent.
Enterprise-class health application systems are geared towards achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This involves the adoption of cooperative federalism in coordination with states and union territories. The participation of private players alongside public health authorities is promoted to make healthcare services nationally portable.
The promotion of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Systems by healthcare professionals is integral to digitally managing the identification of individuals, doctors, and health facilities. This encompasses facilitating electronic signatures, ensuring non-repudiable contracts, enabling paperless payments, securely storing digital records, and facilitating communication with individuals.

National Digital Health Mission Vision

The vision of the National Digital Health Mission is to establish a nationwide digital health ecosystem that fosters universal health coverage in an efficient, accessible, inclusive, affordable, timely, and secure manner. This vision aims to deliver a comprehensive array of data, information, and infrastructure services by leveraging open, interoperable, and standards-based digital systems. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of ensuring the security, confidentiality, and privacy of health-related personal information.

Components of National Digital Health Mission

There are four key elements:

National Health Electronic Registries
A Federated Personal Health Records (PHR) Framework – Designed to address dual challenges:
- Facilitating access to healthcare reports/data by both patients and healthcare providers for treatment purposes.
- Making the data accessible for medical research.
A National Health Analytics Platform
Additional Horizontal Components including:
- Unique Digital Health ID
- Health Data Dictionaries
- Supply Chain Management for Drugs
- Payment Gateways

Salient Features of National Digital Health Mission

The mission’s organizational structure operates at various levels, starting from the highest tier, followed by the board of directors, CEO, and operational levels. It functions as an IT-enabled healthcare infrastructure system.
The Health ID, serving as a repository for all health-related information, involves the voluntary participation of stakeholders, including healthcare providers and Indian citizens. Every citizen interested in accessing the benefits of this mission will have a unique health ID.
Health data consent managers will be associated with the unique health IDs of patients, facilitating the seamless exchange of health records between patients and doctors. Healthcare services will be accessible through a mobile app or an official website.
The role of the Digi Doctor involves providing healthcare services nationwide. A healthcare professional interested in acting as a digital doctor can offer prescriptions to patients located in different areas. These professionals will be assigned free digital signatures for prescribing medicines.

Expected Outcomes of NDHM

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), successful and streamlined execution of the mission can yield the following results:

1. Citizens will be able to access their health records with just 5 clicks.
2. Instead of undergoing diagnostic tests repeatedly during each doctor’s visit, individuals participating in this mission will need to undergo such tests only once. They can then pursue follow-up treatments from various healthcare providers.
3. All healthcare services will be available at a centralized location.
4. A seamless continuum of care is guaranteed across primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare levels.

National Digital Health Mission Challenges

Data misuse and privacy concerns.
Leakage from health repositories.
Addressing technical and implementation deficiencies.

The NDHM is a significant step toward digitizing healthcare, contributing to the goals of National Health Policy 2017 and SDGs. However, ensuring data security, learning from global experiences, and aligning with existing schemes are crucial for its success. The mission is expected to enhance healthcare delivery and move towards health for all.

National Digital Health Mission Way Forward

The NDHM currently does not acknowledge ‘Health’ as an enforceable right. There is a need to advocate for the inclusion of health as a right, aligning with the recommendations outlined in the draft National Health Policy of 2015.
A major concern revolves around the safeguarding of patients’ data security and privacy. It is imperative to guarantee the complete confidentiality and security of patients’ health records.
Moreover, lessons should be drawn from the shortcomings of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom, and proactive measures must be taken to address technical and implementation-related deficiencies before launching the mission on a nationwide scale in India.
To ensure success, standardizing the NDHM architecture nationwide must account for state-specific rules. It should also align seamlessly with government initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat Yojana, as well as other IT-enabled schemes like Reproductive Child Health Care and NIKSHAY.
HM architecture across the country, aligning with state-specific rules and existing government schemes.

National Digital Health Mission UPSC

From the perspective of the UPSC exam, the National Digital Health Mission can be relevant for both Prelims and Mains.

Prelims Questions:

The National Digital Health Mission falls under which ministry?
In which year was the National Digital Health Mission launched?
What are the key components of the National Digital Health Mission?
What are the primary objectives of the mission?

Mains Questions:

Evaluate government initiatives aimed at enhancing the healthcare infrastructure in the country.
Critically analyze the National Digital Health Mission, considering its potential impact on healthcare delivery.
Write an essay on the digitization of healthcare and its implications.
Discuss the key features and objectives of the National Digital Health Mission.

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National Digital Health Mission FAQs

The objective of the mission is to establish a unified healthcare system that digitally connects practitioners with patients, granting them real-time access to health records. This initiative is geared towards fostering timely and organized healthcare services throughout the country.

As a continuation of the National Health Policy's targeted objectives for embracing digital technologies, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare formed a committee led by Shri J. Satyanarayana. This committee was tasked with crafting an implementation framework for the National Health Stack.

Issuing a distinctive health ID to each individual, facilitating a unified identification system for healthcare services. Ensuring interoperability to enable secure sharing and access of health data across various healthcare providers and systems.

Initiated in September 2021 via a video conference led by the Prime Minister, its objective is to furnish digital health IDs for every Indian citizen. This initiative seeks to facilitate electronic access to health records for hospitals, insurance companies, and citizens when needed.

The key entities overseeing and executing the mission encompass the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the National Health Authority (NHA).

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