Govt floats idea for Aadhaar-like database for mapping citizen health

The government has proposed mapping health data of citizens and building a National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) on the lines of the Aadhaar database, and set up ‘digital health’ as public infrastructure.

In a detailed National Digital Health Blueprint, which is open for comments until August 4, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has laid out standards, framework, and data analytics principles for a technology-based infrastructure.

Authored under the chairmanship of the ex-Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman J Satyanarayana, the blueprint proposes that the NDHM be a hybrid of the goods and services tax network, UIDAI (the agency that administers Aadhaar), and the National Payments Corporation of India, given that health is a state subject, and to incorporate private sector, including service providers and insurance.