The prime minister of India launched the National Digital Health Mission on 27th September 2021. He announced the pilot project on 15th August 2021. This mission is now known as Pradhan Mantri Digital Health Mission.

This historical initiative was taken to develop the digital healthcare infrastructure of our country.

The National Digital Health Mission intends to build the foundation essential to back the digital healthcare infrastructure. It will also aim to digitally reconcile the gap among different stakeholders in India’s healthcare sector.

The National Health Authority (NHA) is the government body to implement the program following its principle guidelines. According to NDHM, individuals will get a health card containing every detail and current health record of the cardholder. This mission will connect medical practitioners and patients digitally. Additionally, promote stable and well-structured healthcare across the nation.

Followings are the primary objectives of the National Digital Health Mission in India:

• Establish and improve the digital healthcare system that manages crucial digital healthcare data and infrastructure for absolute service exchange.
• Create international grade health records of individuals with their sane consent. This will help exchange records easily among patients, healthcare professionals and service providers.
• Boost digital health cards among the citizens, which will hold credible data of medical experts, medical workers, healthcare institutions, clinics, pharmacies and drugs.
• Promote open standards to adopt by national digital healthcare stakeholders.

The components of the National Digital Health Mission are -

• A unique digital health ID
• An integrated personal health record
• National electronic facilities registry
• A digital health analytic platform
• Tele-medicine
• E-pharma and Digi-doctor

NDHM has some salient features, which are as follows -

• Every Indian citizen will register with a unique healthcare ID to fetch the facilities of the mission. An app or website will maintain the healthcare ID of a doctor.
• The digital health ID will identify every individual as a car holder and hold all health-related information. Every digital healthcare stakeholder, including citizens and healthcare service providers, will voluntarily participate in the health ID system.
• Health data managers will be linked to every health ID. They will exchange health records between medical practitioners and patients with their due consent. An app or website will extend these services.
• Digi doctors will participate in this digital healthcare system and provide services across the nation. They will provide a prescription with a digital signature to a place far away from where they are now.

Every Indian citizen is eligible to apply for National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

The benefits an individual can expect from this mission are -

• You don’t need to go for diagnostic tests multiple times with each doctor’s visit. Instead, you can only need a single diagnostic test to check out treatments from different healthcare providers.
• You will be able to access your health records with a few clicks.
• An app or website will extend these services.
• Digital healthcare will be available within a broad spectrum.

You can follow the following steps to apply for National Digital Health Mission online:

• Step 1: Visit the official website and click on “Create Health ID”. You can also download the NDHM ID app from the Google play store.
• Step 2: Then click on “Create Via Aadhar Card”, enter your Aadhar Card Number and click on “submit”.
• Step 3: Fill the blank space with the OTP that is generated via message on your phone.
• Step 4: After that, enter the required details and fill in the form that appears on your screen. After that, click on “submit”.
• Step 5: Save the ID number and take a printout to keep a record.

• Aadhaar card
• Health report
• Residential certificate

National Digital Health Mission aims to ensure easy access to excellent healthcare services and well-being. You can access the benefits with the help of the documents and a few clicks by following the above-mentioned steps.