The Benefits of Integrating Digital Healthcare Platforms: How the Government is Working to Create a Central Repository of Health Records
Key Highlights :
The Indian government is taking steps to revolutionize healthcare in the country, and one of the projects that are being worked on is the integration of digital healthcare platforms. This includes the revamping of the CoWIN app, which now provides 12 additional types of vaccinations, and the Arogya Setu platform, which will provide a central repository of health records. AWS, which has provided the Cloud infrastructure for major India Stack applications, has also been involved in initiatives that include creating digital health IDs and “longitudinal health records” of citizens.
The government's aim is to create a backbone for the public healthcare system through the Unified Health Interface (UHI) project. This will create a foundational layer for other app developers, similar to the UPI. Arogya Setu will also offer a 14-digit health ID, and users will be able to link all existing and new health records along with a consent management framework.
The Poshan Tracker is another national initiative under the National Nutrition Mission. This platform is used to monitor nutrition for the target group of 100 million, which includes children, expectant women, and lactating mothers. Data is sourced from around 1.4 million Anganwadi centres nationwide.
The developments come days after the data governance of the CoWIN platform was under question due to an alleged leak of user information collected during the pandemic for the COVID-19 vaccination drive. AWS has assured that health records and repositories under the HealthLocker will work strictly based on user consent for processing their data.
The integration of digital healthcare platforms is an ambitious plan that could revolutionize the healthcare system in India. By creating a central repository of health records, users will no longer have to carry physical health records when they go from one hospital to another. This will allow for more efficient and secure healthcare services, and will make it easier to track health records over time. This is an important step towards improving healthcare in India, and will be beneficial to all citizens.
