The National Health Authority (NHA) last month released the Draft Implementation Strategy for the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), laying out the government's plans to implement the objectives of the NDHM. This crucial document was listed for merely a week of public consultation between March 22 to March 29 and it flew under the radar as it was listed as a submenu link on the NDHM website without any other intimation. Following the end of the consultation period, the link to the document has been removed from the site. Background: The Narendra Modi government launched the National Digital Health Mission on August 15, 2020, with the aim of creating a digital health ecosystem by issuing unique Health IDs to citizens, maintaining interoperable electronics records of patient history, creating a digital repository of doctors and health centres across the country, and providing any other digital service that makes health services more accessible, inclusive, efficient, and affordable. Later in the year, the Centre approved the Health Data Management Policy, which governs the collection and use of personal health data. To know more about the goals of NDHM, read our previous article on All You Need To Know About The National Digital Health Mission. What are the guiding principles for the NDHM? NDHM will follow the guiding principles set out by the National Digital Health Blueprint: Business Principles: NDHM will be designed to be inclusive and will strive to reach out to those who are currently unconnected such as the digitally illiterate and people who live in remote, hilly, and…
