The Centre is planning to repurpose two main pillars of nation's digital health systems that were used to track Covid-19 - CoWIN and Aarogya Setu - as India's health application.
National Health Authority (NHA) CEO R S Sharma said that Aarogya Setu is being repurposed as India's health application, while CoWIN being repurposed for national immunisation programme.
"Aarogya Setu is now being repurposed as India's health application. CoWIN, Covid-19 vaccination portal is being repurposed for national immunisation program and as a health management information system for small doctors," said Sharma while addressing the two day-long Arogya Manthan 2022 programme on Sunday to mark the completion of 4 years of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and 1 year of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
Sharma said that the NHA has created robust and interoperable infrastructure through these two pillars of Ayushman Bharat. He said that hopefully Covid no longer posing a threat, the application is being modified to address India's digital health concerns. People will not need to wait long in queue to check in at a hospital instead, they can simply scan and obtain the OPD card, he added.
The two days long Arogya Manthan 2022 programme was inaugurated by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday. Highlighting the PMJAY beneficiaries as the most important stakeholder in the largest global public health insurance scheme, Mandaviya stated that over 19 crore Ayushman Cards have been made in the country spanning its coverage in 33 States/UTs, and more than 24 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers have also been generated. This reflects an important milestone in the digitization of health records in the country, he said.