BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government will soon roll out the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) along with theAyushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
As part of NDHM, every patient will have an Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) and the government will digitise the medical records of all patients. When required, patients can access their personalised data.
Health and Family Welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling said patients are being encouraged to open their own ABHA. “Digitisation of health records has already begun in the state. Patients can access their medical records anytime and anywhere in the country with the help of ABHA ID,” he said.
ABHA is a unique health ID for patients to access their medical records as it gives a complete digitised history of their health for a better understanding of treating doctors and other healthcare providers for appropriate and timely diagnosis and treatment across the country. “Doctors in all state run hospitals can access the accounts once the system is rolled out in the state,” said Mahaling.
In 2018, the Centre had launched the Ayushman Bharat scheme with three components - Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
While the Odisha government had implemented the AB-HWCs and ABDM components, it had launched its own health assurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) instead of PMJAY. After BJP came to power, the government announced plans to implement the PMJAY by February.
Odisha had topped the country in creating ABHA IDs in 2022. In response to the Centre’s target of 21.9 lakh IDs, the state had created 43.61 lakh by using different portals of noncommunicable diseases, reproductive and child health, e-Sanjeevani and Nikshya. The best performing districts were Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack, Ganjam, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapara, Balasore, Puri and Keonjhar.