Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare represented India at the ministerial conclave of BRICS virtually on the 3rd of September 2021. The panel mainly discussed the opportunities and challenges with the implementation of digital health.
In the panel, she addressed that the priorities of India have been completely towards the adoption of digital health technologies at various levels. The discussion also witnessed India’s expectations out of digital health technologies and its strategic approach for sustaining the gains through the utilization of digital innovations during the pandemic in a sustainable manner.
Dr. Pawar has focused on the fact that digital help has become crucial in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that during the two waves of the pandemic, digital health apps were used for managing various health-related obligations. Digital health technology has enabled the country to look forward to the data-driven and scientific approach.
Speaking about India’s national digital health group Dr. Pawar also informed that the country is moving going ahead with the implementation of the recommendations for streamlining various digital health programs through NDHM or National Digital Health Mission. The NDHM will ensure for both the practitioners and the commoners get access to various health services via digital mode.
She also informed the audience that the country is also looking forward to implementing HMIS or Hospital Management Information System in various district hospitals for real-time clinical management and accessibility to medical consultation.
As per reports, the discussion also witnessed how India leveraged the iGoT or the training platforms for training 16 million + covid Frontline workers for managing covid. This is true that the paramedics, doctors, nurses, and other community participants. Dr. Pawar also highlighted the fact that the BRICS digital health platform is the current need of the hour for ensuring the availability of proper health data for better healthcare.
Speaking on the adoption of digital health technologies during the covid-19 pandemic period, Dr. Pawar also said that the Ministry of Health has initiated a robust mechanism with which a national covid portal with integrated testing, surveillance, data-driven analytics, Logistic management solution was developed. Various apps like Itihaas and Aarogya Setu came into being from where citizens could source their data and predict the upsurge of the pandemic in various hotspots. Aarogya Setu became one of the top applications to get the maximum downloads of 201.
She also highlighted the fact that most of this will help platforms will have a long-lasting impact on maintaining public health. India is also looking forward to leveraging the disease surveillance program with an integrated health information platform with real-time data from different facilities. Currently, India is undertaking the world’s largest vaccination drive, managing it through the digital tool of Co-Win. In the virtual presence of all the Honorable Health Ministers of the BRIKS mission, the BRIKS digital health declaration was adopted.
The Conclave was later presided by the Union Health secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan who brought into light the wider adoption of digital health platforms in the covid pandemic which has boosted the communication gap between the common citizens and the health care services.
