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Unique health accounts under Digital Health Mission to be called ABHA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to encourage the public to create ABHA — Aarogya Bharat Health Accounts — in his upcoming Republic Day speech, News18.com learnt.

With the aim of boosting participation under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), a scheme that will enable Indians to create and access digital health records, the government is planning to call digital health accounts “ABHA”, expecting that the name may resonate more with the common people.

The mission — under which every Indian will get a unique 14-digit health identification (ID) number — will create a digital health ecosystem with a personal health ID for every Indian, identifiers for doctors and health facilities and personal records.

“The Prime Minister is expected to announce that the accounts under the scheme will be called Aarogya Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA). ABHA may resonate more with common man rather than digital health accounts. The planning is in its final stages. However, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will take final call on the announcement,” the government official privy to the development told News18.com.

“The idea is to encourage the public to create ABHA and digitize health records.”

The Narendra Modi government’s flagship scheme is envisioned as the first step towards universal health coverage. The scheme was nationally rolled out by PM Modi on September 27 and its pilot was also launched by the PM on August 15, 2020.

Since the launch in 2020, almost 15 crore health IDs have been created till January 6. More than 15,000 health facilities have been registered with the scheme along with around 7,400 doctors. More than 2 lakh health record apps have been downloaded, government data shows.

The scheme has been planned to remain a “voluntary” programme giving the citizens a choice to build their digital health IDs and link their medical records. The health ID can be created using either an Aadhaar card, driving licence or mobile number. News18.com

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