Chhattisgarh government fears National Digital Health Mission may turn into surveillance tool

Bhopal: Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdeo on Monday expressed strong reservation about Centre’s National Digital Health Mission, fearing that the policy may be used as a tool for surveillance on citizens by an ‘authoritarian state’.

In a letter to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, Singhdeo cautioned that the policy can be ‘misused by an authoritarian state for surveillance purposes’ and also can be misused to manipulate the sensitive personal information for the purpose of ‘overt coercion’.

The National Digital Health Mission, draft policy of which was announced by National Health Authority functioning under Union health ministry on August 26, seeks to digitize the personal health records of citizens of India by developing a digital health ID, using Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique identification number linked to a person’s biometric details.