(Lto R)Dr. Gregory Ganda, County Minister for Health, Kisumu County and Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Authority in New Delhi
Since its launch in 2018, PM-JAY has enabled over 11.6 crore (116 million) hospital admissions worth more than ₹1.67 lakh crore ($18 billion) in treatment for India’s most vulnerable populations.
New Delhi: A high-level delegation from the Government of Kenya, led by Dr. Gregory Ganda, County Minister for Health, Kisumu County, visited the National Health Authority (NHA), here today for a knowledge exchange on India’s digital health infrastructure and health insurance programmes.
The delegation brought together senior officials spanning Kenya’s health systems architecture, reflecting representation at both the Kenyan national and county (state) level.
The visiting delegation was received and briefed by Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Authority, along with senior NHA officials on India’s two flagship schemes: Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the world’s largest government-funded health assurance programme and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), India’s national digital health ecosystem built on the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) approach.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal, CEO, NHA, said “We are pleased to share our experiences with our Kenyan partners and believe that this South-South collaboration will contribute meaningfully to their efforts in building citizen-centric health systems.”
The visit reinforced the spirit of South-South cooperation, with both sides affirming a shared commitment to co-designing solutions with the private sector and lowering cost barriers through shared digital public goods. The interaction will inform a collaborative pathway towards building scalable, technology-driven, and citizen-centric health systems.
Discussions on PM-JAY examined how technology has been used to build accountability into the system – from Aadhaar-authenticated beneficiary verification and pre-authorization turnaround times to risk profiling of hospitals and claims.
NHA’s multi-layered anti-fraud framework, deploying machine learning, image analytics and deep learning across a network of over 33,000 empaneled hospitals, drew particular interest.
The delegation also engaged with the federal implementation model that accommodates state-level flexibility within a nationally governed framework.
Since its launch in 2018, PM-JAY has enabled over 11.6 crore (116 million) hospital admissions worth more than ₹1.67 lakh crore ($18 billion) in treatment for India’s most vulnerable populations.
On ABDM, deliberations examined India’s use of the DPI approach to build a shared, consent-governed architecture for health data exchange across government programmes, private hospitals, laboratories and frontline workers.
Both sides identified the potential of leveraging interoperable infrastructure for drug logistics and utilization tracking as a promising area warranting deeper exploration given its implications for supply chain governance and rational drug use.
With over 860 million ABHA health IDs created and 882 million electronic health records linked, ABDM underpins a federated, patient-owned longitudinal health record accessible across care settings.
About National Health Authority (NHA)
The National Health Authority is the apex body of the Government of India responsible for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. NHA is committed to advancing Universal Health Coverage through financial protection, digital innovation, and evidence-based policymaking.