PM Modi launches Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

Prime minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission via video conferencing on Monday. In his address, Modi said that under the Mission every Indian will now get a digital health ID. It will play a key role in the digital health ecosystem, like that of the Unified Payments Interface in revolutionising payments - has underlined that "citizens will now only be a click-away from accessing healthcare facilities". The newly launched mission "will play a big role in eliminating problems in medical treatment of poor and middle class," PM Modi said. He said that today begins a mission that has the power to bring a revolutionary change in India's health facilities. Via technology, work done by Ayushman Bharat to connect patients with hospitals across the nation is being further expanded and given a strong technology platform.

"130 crore Aadhar IDs, 118 crore mobile subscribers, about 80 crore internet users and 43 crore Jan Dhan Bank accounts - such a huge, connected infrastructure can't be found anywhere else in the world. This digital infrastructure - from ration to governance - is reaching every Indian in a transparent manner," the Prime Minister further elaborated, praising the UPI system and its reach.  The Health ID of every citizen will also "work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application," says the government. The access and exchange of "longitudinal health records of citizens will be enabled with their consent," an official statement says.