BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has once again requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to implement two flagship welfare schemes, National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), in the State.
Writing to the Chief Minister on Friday, Pradhan said, “I once again request you to roll out Ayushman Bharat in Odisha and extend whole-hearted support to implementation of NDHM which will provide timely and efficient access to inclusive, affordable, and safe health care to the people of the State,” he said.
The NDHM leverages the transformative power of e-governance by introducing the concept of a Unique Healthcare ID (UHID) for every citizen in India and it will be a repository of all health-related information of a person, Pradhan stressed.
The UHID will liberate citizens from the challenges of finding doctors in different locations, seeking appointment, payment of consultation fee, making several visits for prescription and will empower them to make informed decisions for availing the best possible health care services, he added.
The Union Minister further said NDHM will bring about a revolution it the country’s healthcare sector where technology will play a leading role in minimising the challenges citizens face while seeking health care. It will greatly benefit the migrant workers and people living in rural areas.
“As the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has shown us, among the most vulnerable sections of our society are migrant workers who suffer due to the geographic redundancy of social welfare schemes. The nation-wide portability of UHID will greatly benefit migrant workers who will be able to digitally access all their health records anywhere in the country while seeking medical treatment,” Pradhan said in the letter.
Pradhan urges Naveen to implement Ayushman Bharat and NDHM
UHID will also be a boon for people in remote rural areas of the country by facilitating telemedicine services and ensuring continuity of their medical history and treatments, thereby saving on their out-of-pocket expenses, he added.
Pradhan further contended that the maximum benefit under NDHM can be availed only when it is integrated with the AB-PMJAY which seeks to cover 50 crore beneficiaries in the country, including over 60 lakh beneficiaries in Odisha.