The Union Health Secretary has called upon states and union territories to take steps to connect the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) with a range of health portals, such as Reproductive Child Health (RCH), National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NIKSHAY), and others. This move aims to establish comprehensive health records for individuals that can be accessed by healthcare providers from various facilities, leading to improved clinical decision-making.
According to the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) dashboard, as of April 3, 2024, over 5.8 million ABHA IDs have been created in the country. However, the number of beneficiaries linked with ABHA under different health programs like Non-communicable diseases (NCD), Sickle cell, RCH, NIKSHAY, National Viral Hepatitis Control Program (NVHCP), and Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP) is considerably lower, indicating a gap between ID creation and linkage of health records.
The Health Secretary highlighted the importance of linking existing beneficiaries with ABHA IDs on various health portals to ensure that stakeholders, including patients, can fully benefit from digital health records. The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) launched by the Prime Minister is aimed at involving all health facilities in the country in this initiative, encouraging the optimum utilization of the ABDM platform through Health Facility Registry and Health Professional Registry.