Centre invites suggestions for Unified Health Interface under digital health mission

The government has invited suggestions as it seeks to roll out the Unified Health Interface as part of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

The National Health Authority (NHA), which has been mandated to design and roll out NDHM in the country, said that comments from the public have been invited to ensure that UHI is designed and developed in a collaborative and consultative manner.

The consultation paper provides an overview of the proposed design, scope and role of Unified Health Interface.

Through UHI, the NDHM aims to transform the way digital health services are rendered in India. Currently, patients and healthcare providers need to be on the same application to avail and provide digital health services, the NHA said.

“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 fulfilment of a variety of digital health services across applications,” it said.

The services include, but are not limited to, teleconsultation and the discovery of pharmacies and hospitals. Over time, the services enabled by the platform will evolve with the market ecosystem. UHI is designed to be similar to the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ecosystem which has emerged for digital payments.

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.

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