Puducherry is in the process of establishing a digital public health ecosystem under the National Digital Health Mission.
In the first phase, four building blocks of the digital ecosystem would be developed and implemented by the second week of August. These involve setting up health identity database for the entire population on the lines of the Aadhaar, the ‘digi doctor’, a listing of health professional across systems of medicine, the National Health Infrastructure Registry and a personal health record for every individual mapping past and present data.
The entire ecosystem is voluntary and data privacy and security has been built into the design, the press note said.
Implemented by the National Health Authority, the initiative is guided by the Union Health Ministry and envisages the creation of a robust public health ecosystem that is citizen-centric, provides a continuum of care based on accessibility and affordability. The other features are that it is inclusive, has portability and is wellness-centred by being attainable for the “right person at the right place”.
According to S. Mohan Kumar, Director of Health and Mission Director, Puducherry State Health Mission, the project is being kick-started following a visit by NHDM and NHA officials to the Union Territory recently for a presentation and discussion with health authorities.
The project has been launched in six Union Territories including Puducherry.
A team led by Praveen Gedam, additional CEO of NHA, had also visited the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Jipmer to assess existing software in various departments of the institutions. The team also visited two empanelled hospitals of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, a press note from the State Health Mission said.
NHDM officials also had discussions with Malladi Krishna Rao, Health Minister, Ashwani Kumar, Chief Secretary, T. Arun, Health Secretary and other officials. Separate meetings were also held with representatives of the IMA.
