Independence Day 2022 was a special one. Several success stories and achievements of Free India were recalled and celebrated, several vows and pledges for betterment in certain fields were made, new plans chalked out and the entire sentiment was shared by all the citizens of the nation.
Both our President and our Prime Minister spoke on this occasion. The President spoke from the standpoint of upliftment of the poor and downtrodden. She said, “The keyword for India today is compassion; for the downtrodden, for the needy and for those on the margins.” She congratulated India as a country to have reached the 200-crore mark in cumulative vaccine coverage. She also reminded us that we still have a long way to go in terms of ‘Universal Health Coverage for all,’ ‘pucca road to every village,’ ‘clean water for all’ and ‘home for all.’
The Prime Minister said that we as Indian citizens must resolve to make India a developed nation in the next 25 years and called these 25 years to the centenary year of Independence as “Amrit Kaal.”
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Prime Minister Modi spoke at length about ‘Digital Revolution’ in India, in general, in his address to the nation on August 15th, 2022. He foresees an overall digital revolution in India brought about by three intrinsic missions.
- The complete transformation of the education ecosystem
- Revolution in health infrastructure and
- Improvement in the quality of agricultural life.
Current healthcare system in India and its limitations:
We have come a long way in terms of healthcare in these 75 years post-Independence. However, there are many lacunae in the current healthcare system of India. The government is striving hard to tackle the issues. Here are a few of them:
1. Lack of infrastructure:
A general lack of infrastructure in healthcare system was quite evident in India and the Covid-19 pandemic made it more glaring.
More budgets have been sanctioned to the healthcare sector than ever, more so after the pandemic hit the world.
2. Shortage of efficient and trained manpower:
India had a real crunch for doctors and healthcare providers for several decades. To tackle this crunch, more and more medical colleges have been started and upskilling programs like “Skill India movement” are being run. The efforts over the last decade are bearing fruit and the ratio has improved at least in some states and UTs.
3. Patient-load:
In government hospitals in particular, the patient-load remains quite high, leading to the burnout of doctors and nurses. There has been much improvement in the doctor-to-patient ratio over the last decade, thanks to newly added doctors and integration with AYUSH stream of doctors.
4. Need for proactive and not reactive healthcare policy:
The healthcare policies in India were largely reactive in nature and not proactive. This is slowly changing for the better, especially post pandemic. The pandemic highlighted the immense need to improve our healthcare system and some major steps have been taken since, both in communicable and non-communicable diseases.
5. High out-of-pocket medical expenses:
Contrary to Universal Health Coverage, a vast majority of individuals and families had to suffer financial hardships during the pandemic. People were caught between limited number of beds in government hospitals and high expenses at private hospitals. More and more individuals today have realized the importance of having medical insurance. The government is trying to tackle this issue by providing some insurance to the underprivileged through the PM-JAY scheme.
And more importantly,
6. Lack of digital way of operations:
We do not have a single integrated digital network of all the hospitals and clinics throughout the country. Having such a network immensely helps exchange of medical information in a digital format. This means paperless operations and easy availability of important data in the hour of emergency.
Need for digital revolution in healthcare industry:
Universal Health Coverage is the term used to mean that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need when they need without suffering financial hardship.
We, as a nation are yet to achieve Universal Health Coverage for all. Health should not be a commodity available only to the privileged or the well-off classes. It is a basic human right in any civilized society and should be accessible to masses and classes alike.
To achieve this, there is an obvious need for revolution in the healthcare industry, so that quality care can be made available to everyone without the ‘urban-rural’ or ‘rich-poor’ barrier. People can be spared of the travel expenses, long waiting hours, and loss of work for the caregivers if quality care can reach out to individual patient.
Vision ‘Digital Health India’:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a vision of a global strategy for health. It is chalked out to improve health for everyone, everywhere. It aims to do so by accelerating the development and adoption of digital health solutions.
Such digital health solutions will:
- prevent, detect, and respond to epidemics and pandemics
- develop infrastructure and applications that enable countries to derive useful health data.
This health data can be used successfully to promote health and well-being, and to achieve Universal Health Coverage for all. Government policies can be shaped up accordingly with real-time insights.
How ABDM is envisioned to bring that about that change:
The government of India has launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). The ABDM endeavors to build the necessary framework to support the digital infrastructure in India that will ultimately create a digital healthcare ecosystem.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission aims to bring connected healthcare to Indians across every sector of society. Through the ABDM, anyone can create ABHA which will enable healthcare along with safe and secure sharing and storing of health-related information, thus allowing a centralized digital health management system.
There are three key registries of ABDM as listed below which are a part of the digital infrastructure for data exchange. This will enable data interoperability across digital health platforms.
- ABHA number/health ID: for individuals
- Health Professional Registry (HPR): a central registry where doctors and other healthcare professionals can register, thereby creating a central digital network
- Health Facility Registry (HFR): a central registry of clinics, hospitals, labs, and other healthcare facilities connected by digital network for secure exchange of health data
Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA):
ABHA is the first step to availing benefits. Those who wish to participate in ABDM and would like to have their health records available digitally, must create a Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA). ABHA is an account that has a randomly generated 14-digit number. ABHA is used to uniquely identifying individuals, for authenticating them, and for linking their health records (only with their informed consent) across multiple systems and stakeholders.
A person’s ABHA will be unique to him/her, and the users will have the option to link all their health records to the ABHA. They can also choose to create multiple accounts to link different sets of health records with different ABHA numbers.
Jio is the official health-tech partner of National Health Authority:
JioHealth joins National Health Authority in their initiative to create ABHA as a health-tech partner. The JioHealthHub app allows you not only to create ABHA but to access all healthcare facilities on a single platform and make the most of your ABHA number.
This Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, let us join Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and unlock the power of connected health through ABHA.
To create ABHA for you and your family click https://bit.ly/3IY3psW
#AzadiKaAmritMahotsav
Source:
Dr. Mamta Lele- Pawara
(MD Ayurveda-Internal Medicine, CRAV-Kayachikitsa, MA Sanskrit)