Apurva Chandra,Union health secretary
Union health secretary Apurva Chandra stated that “e-Sanjeevani, the world’s largest telemedicine initiative, serving 241 million patients, including 57 per cent women and 12 per cent senior citizens has led to savings of USD 2.15 billion in out-of-pocket expenses
New Delhi: Addressing the World Health Assembly of WHO in Geneva, on Wednesday, Union health secretary Apurva Chandra has highlighted that “AB PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana), the world’s largest public funded health assurance scheme providing a health cover of Rs 500,000 (Rs 5 Lakh) to 550 million (55 crore) needy and vulnerable Indian population, has provided 70 million (7 crore) treatments worth USD 11.2 Billion (Rs 89000 crore).
Chandra is leading the Indian delegation and had addressed the Plenary Session of the 77th World Health Assembly on transformative role of Digital Health in ensuring equitable and accessible healthcare services, contributing to universal health coverage and achievement of ‘Good Health and Well-being’ in India.
He further stated that “e-Sanjeevani, the world’s largest telemedicine initiative, serving 241 million patients, including 57 per cent women and 12 per cent senior citizens has led to savings of USD 2.15 billion in out-of-pocket expenses.
He stated that the Indian government under the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ wants to promote Universal Health Coverage by operationalising more than 1,60,000 health and wellness centres (Ayushman Aarogya Mandir)”.
During the ongoing 77th World Health Assembly, India hosted a side event on Digital Health, which saw participation by the Quad countries (Australia, Japan and the United States of America).
The purpose of the event was to emphasise the transformative potential of digital public infrastructure for addressing social determinants of health, a health ministry statement said.
It was attended by delegates from over 100 countries highlighting collaborative efforts in advancing digital public infrastructure globally.
He also underscored that the NI-KSHAY initiative for TB management and the SAKSHAM online learning platform for health professionals were pivotal digital health innovations.
Chandra emphasised India’s success in implementing digital public infrastructure for digital identities (Aadhaar), unified payments interface (UPI) for financial transactions and effective health service delivery with Co-WIN during the pandemic, the statement said.
He said that Co-WIN is being transformed into UWIN for the National Immunisation Programme, the statement said.
“It will aid in linking and providing immunisation record of 30 million newborns and mothers every year followed by Anganwadi and school health record, the statement stated. The Union health secretary also highlighted India’s effort under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), which aims to create a robust national digital health ecosystem,” he said.
With over 618 million unique health IDs (ABHA IDs) generated, 268,000 health facilities registered, and 350,000 healthcare professionals enlisted, ABDM exemplifies India’s commitment to digital healthcare, he said.
He added that as part of ABDM, Government of India is launching the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX) to transform the insurance payments ecosystem leveraging the public private partnership built on top of the digital public infrastructure. It will usher in the era of real time settlements with auto adjudication of claims.
India, in collaboration with the WHO, intends to further strengthen the drug regulatory system to ensure quick access to high-quality medical products for all, he said,
Chandra highlighted that as per the WHO SPAR report, India has a core capacity score of 86 per cent to detect, assess, report and respond to any health emergencies, which exceeds the Southeast Asia Region and Global average.
”Showing significant drop in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in past decades, India is on track to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets. Today, India is on the verge of eliminating Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) disease and has also reduced the TB incidence and mortality,” he stated.
He stressed that India’s approach to leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) not only transforms healthcare delivery but also fosters a resilient, equitable society.
He called for global collaboration to harness digital technologies for a healthier, more inclusive future.