In view of the upcoming rollout of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), a consultation paper providing an overview of the proposed design, scope, and role of the Unified Health Interface (UHI) has been released seeking comments from the public.
In a statement released on Saturday the National Health Authority (NHA), which has been authorized to design and roll out NDHM in the country said that comments from the public have been requested to ensure that UHI is designed and developed in a collaborative and consultative manner.
An overview of the proposed design, scope, and role of Unified Health Interface is provided in this consultation paper. Through UHI, the NDHM aims to transform the way digital health services are rendered in India.
The NHA said, to avail and provide digital health services, patients and healthcare providers need to be on the same application.
“It is envisioned that the open network created by UHI will serve as the digital infrastructure for patients and healthcare providers to engage in the discovery, booking, payment, and fulfillment of a variety of digital health services across applications,” it said.
Over time, the services enabled by the platform will evolve with the market ecosystem. The services include. but are not limited to, teleconsultation and the discovery of pharmacies and hospitals. UHI is designed to be similar to the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ecosystem which has emerged for digital payments.
Giving his views on the consultation papers, Dr. R S Sharma, CEO of, National Health Authority, said the National Digital Health Mission is endeavoring to make digital public goods for the healthcare industry to make it more accessible, affordable and efficient.
Since the launch of the pilot of NDHM in August 2020 in six Union Territories, multiple rounds of consultations with different groups of stakeholders have been held for the various building blocks to discuss the design and adoption. NDHM will continue this engagement with stakeholders and ensure that development is inclusive, and diverse viewpoints are incorporated from stakeholders concerned.
“To facilitate this, we are taking a consultative approach to developing the National Digital Health Ecosystem. We have come up with the concept of Unified Health Interface], designed on the lines of UPI which has revolutionized digital payments and the financial sector.
“To enable inclusivity and widen the perspectives, I urge all stakeholders to go through the shared consultation papers and provide us with their valuable feedback,” he said. Comments and feedback can be emailed to ndhm@nha.gov.in till August 23.
