Aadhaar authentication will be used on a voluntary basis to create Unique Health Identifiers (UHID) for citizens, according to a gazette notification issued by the Union Health Ministry on January 1, 2021. The UHID will be used “for identification and authentication of beneficiaries” of “various health IT applications," it said. The Health Ministry has already been piloting the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), under which citizens are required to create Health IDs, in six union territories. This identifier will “facilitate integration of health data across various applications and create longitudinal Electronic Health Record for citizens”, and also allow de-duplication across various health services, it said. Dr. Indu Bhushan, chief executive officer of the National Health Authority, which is the implementing body for the NDHM, said last month that the Mission would be rolled out nationwide in January. Last month, the body also finalised the Mission’s Health Data Management Policy. The ministry, in its notification, says that Aadhaar authentication can be used for “good governance” and to enable access to services permits beneficiaries “to get service directly in a convenient and seamless manner." The voluntary use of Aadhaar is a convenient way to prove one’s identity to obtain services from the central, state, and union territory governments, it said. Termed as the Unique Health Identifier Rules, 2021, the use of Aadhaar authentication has been permitted under the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020 and the parent Aadhaar Act, 2016, itself. The Aadhaar for Good Governance Rules,…
