Cabinet approves national roll-out of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year, has been approved for a national roll-out, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), announced on Saturday.

The Union Cabinet, headed by PM Modi, cleared the national roll-out, the CCEA further said, adding that the National Health Authority (NHA) will implement the scheme on the ground.

“The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission of the Ministry of health and family welfare will be rolled out across the country with a budget of ₹1600 crore for five years,” it said in a statement.

“Under this, citizens will be able to create their ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) numbers, to which their digital health records can be linked. This will enable creation of longitudinal health records for individuals across various healthcare providers, and improve clinical decision making by healthcare providers,” the statement read.

Reacting to the announcement, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, under whose ministry the scheme falls, thanked and lauded Prime Minister Modi.

The ABDM will create a seamless online platform of healthcare ecosystem by collating a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services etc. This it will do while ensuring the privacy of health-related personal information.

The pilot project of the mission was successfully completed in six Union territories: Ladakh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

As of February 24, 2022, as many as 173,369,087 Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts have been created in ABDM, while 10,114 doctors and 17,319 health facilities have been registered on the platform as well.