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UHI – A gamechanger in Healthtech frontier
UHI – A gamechanger in Healthtech frontier

December 5, 2022

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How does one begin to plan for a country with a 1.4 billion population that is as diverse as India’s? Add to this a cocktail of shortage of medical personnel, public healthcare infrastructure, inadequate access & lack of awareness. To call such a task challenging would be an understatement. 

India spent 3.2% of its GDP on health this year and is projected to spend a whopping 862 billion Indian rupees in the fiscal year 2023 as per budget estimates. When it comes to medical personnel, a Lancet study points out that currently India has just over 21 providers per 10,000 population & needs an additional 1.8 million providers to get to the minimum required density of 44·5/10000. Given these circumstances, the Healthcare industry must look towards technology to address such a large deficit of resources, create quality patient-oriented products at optimal costs and deliver them faster to the patient. 

Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO of National Health Authority, MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India) recently spoke at the NASSCOM Product Conclave ‘22, about how the Government of India plans to address this challenge – UHI (Unified Health Interface). It is how India's Innovation system is being built from Public Digital Infrastructure & will be a game-changer in times to come.  

The Government envisions a Healthcare system that is affordable, accessible, available & transparent – thus on Sep 2021, the Prime Minister announced the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) whose aim is to provide a solid framework in the form of UHI which will enable digital products to be built on top of it & thus achieving the end goal of Health for All. 

In his talk, Dr. Sharma cited numerous benefits of a solid framework, which when implemented will have the potential to revolutionize not just India’s but the World’s healthcare systems. A case in point can be how UHI can change the healthcare journey of a poor person suffering from a disease and having limited means & knowledge.  

A Unique Health Identity will be created for everyone, integrated with Aadhaar card & phone numbers – this will enable & ensure that anyone can avail the facilities across the platform without any delays. 

The first main benefit of a Digital platform is that it closes the physical gap between various stakeholders. The patient no longer needs to physically travel for follow-up visits to his doctor – thus bringing down overall costs, energy & time consumption involved. 

Secondly, it eliminates paperwork. With the files being stored digitally – there is no need for paper files to be carried, stored, or worse - get lost. 

Thirdly, the transfer of information becomes super easy. The digital files will enable immediate access to all patient files & reports by the health providers. Thus, through the Digital platform, the overall treatment will become easier, more accessible & better in quality. 

Fourthly, the Trust levels of trust within the ecosystem will be increased as it will allow for the onboarding of verified & registered hospitals, doctors, providers, Insurance entities, etc.  

Finally, UHI much like UPI (Unified Payments Interface) will enable fast & easy payments between patients, insurance entities, and providers as each of these stakeholders will have a unique identity & registration. 

ABDM & UHI will be a democratic framework that can be used to develop digital products on top of it. The key attributes of ABDM are that it is standard-based, Open API & interoperable. 

To sum up, with all these attributes UHI packs a punch. A sea of opportunity awaits the Healthtech ecosystem – entrepreneurs, providers, etc to come together & develop innovative healthcare solutions & take advantage of this propitious opportunity.  

You can listen to the session by Dr. R. S. Sharma and the rest of the NPC HealthTech Summit sessions on our YouTube playlist. Click Here 


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Dr.Apoorva Joshi
Deputy Manager

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