e-Sanjeevani

The National Health Authority (NHA) announces the successful integration of eSanjeevani with its flagship scheme – Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).

Significance –

This integration allows the existing users of eSanjeevani, the telemedicine service of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to easily create their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) and use it to link and manage their existing health records like prescriptions, lab reports, etc. The users would also be able to share their health records with doctors on eSanjeevani which will help in better clinical decision making and ensuring the continuum of care.

About e-Sanjeevani –

• eSanjeevani initiative of Health Ministry is serving in two streams in 28 States and Union Territories.
  • • The eSanjeevani AB-HWC enables doctor to doctor tele-consultations and is being used at around 6000 Health & Wellness Centres which are being served by specialists and doctors in around 240 hubs which have been set up by States in District Hospitals or Medical Colleges etc.
    • The second stream eSanjeevaniOPD is or providing remote health services to patients in the confines of their homes. eSanjeevaniOPD enables contactless, risk-free, and safe consultations between a doctor and a patient. It received a huge reception by both the patients and the doctors. Of late, daily eSanjeevani has been serving around 14,000 patients across the country.
• eSanjeevani is being used by patients in over 550 districts of India. Over 10% of the users of eSanjeevani are aged 60 and above. Close to around one fourth of the total patients have used eSanjeevani more than once.
• National Teleconsultation Service of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has developed online OPD service offered by a country government to its citizens. eSanjeevaniOPD – Stay Home OPD has been developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Mohali.
• eSanjeevani AB-HWC has accounted for over 1.60 crore consultations. Over 1,10,000 patients are served through eSanjeevani on a daily basis, establishing itself as a parallel stream of healthcare services delivery. 53% of the consultations have been taken by women.

About the ‘Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission’ –

• It was launched in September 2021 by the Prime Minister through a video conference.
• It aims to provide digital health IDs for all Indian citizens to help hospitals, insurance firms, and citizens access health records electronically when required.
• The pilot project of the Mission was announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August 2020. The project is being implemented in the pilot phase in six States & Union Territories.
• The National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be the implementing Agency.
• Features —
  • • Health ID – It will be issued for every citizen that will also work as their health account. This health account will contain details of every test, every disease, the doctors visited, the medicines taken and the diagnosis. Health ID is free of cost, voluntary. It will help in doing analysis of health data and lead to better planning, budgeting and implementation for health programs.
    • Healthcare Facilities & Professionals’ Registry — The other major component of the programme is creating a Healthcare Professionals’ Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registry (HFR), allowing easy electronic access to medical professionals and health infrastructure. The HPR will be a comprehensive repository of all healthcare professionals involved in delivering healthcare services across both modern and traditional systems of medicine. The HFR database will have records of all the country’s health facilities.
    • Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox — The Sandbox, created as a part of the mission, will act as a framework for technology and product testing that will help organisations, including private players intending to be a part of the national digital health ecosystem become a Health Information Provider or Health Information User or efficiently link with building blocks of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

About National Health Authority –

• The National Health Authority (NHA) is the apex body of the Government of India leading the implementation Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) in coordination with different ministries/ departments of the Government of India, State Governments, and private sector/ civil society organisations.
• It will bridge the existing gap amongst different stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem through digital highways.
• ABDM will create a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.
• NHA is also responsible for the implementation of another flagship scheme of the Government of India – Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY).