Over 67 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts created: Centre

New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) More than 67 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) have been created, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday, marking the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).

The ABHA service, a key feature under the ABDM, provides citizens with unique digital health IDs for secure access and sharing of health records.

More than 42 crore health records have also been linked to ABHA, enabling seamless access to medical histories and enhancing healthcare delivery, the Ministry said.

The ABDM was launched on September 27 to establish a robust digital health infrastructure.

“ABDM has embarked on a transformative three-year journey with the aim to revolutionise the nation's digital healthcare ecosystem to enhance healthcare accessibility, efficiency, and transparency,” the Ministry said.

It has made significant progress by involving major private and public players in the digital health ecosystem since its launch. 

The Ministry said that more than 236 private entities including labs, pharmacies, and digital solution companies have integrated with the ABDM ecosystem, joining hands to achieve interoperability.  

“The public sector, institutions such as AIIMS Delhi and AIIMS Bhopal and many more have emerged as top performers in generating Scan and Share OPD registrations,” the Ministry said.

Currently, over 1.3 lakh facilities are ABDM-enabled, including more than 17,000 private facilities, it added.

ABDM works by creating a single source via registries like ABHA, Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR), and Health Facility Registries (HFR).

With ABDM patients can scan the QR code of the hospital and share their demographic details to register, minimising the long queues at the registration counter and reducing the risk of incomplete and inaccurate data. 

“It has recorded over 5 crore OPD tokens, significantly reducing waiting times from one hour to half an hour, further saving 2.5 crore man-hours,” the Ministry said.

Further, to encourage the adoption and implementation of digital health practices, the ABDM also gives the opportunity to earn incentives of up to 4 crores and has gained significant traction among private and public players. 

The mission has made significant progress by involving major private and public players in the digital health ecosystem since its launch, the Ministry said.