The recent launch of 5G will bring a new revolution in the digital healthcare system in India, says Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh addressing the first ever Global Digital Health Summit, Expo & Innovation Awards at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. 

Singh said, "India will become a digital health leader, as we have the world’s best technical manpower required and our data is the cheapest in the world, approaching 100 percent coverage."

He pointed out that the whole world recognised India’s leadership role during COVID-19, as it achieved the rare feat of delivering over 220 crore vaccinations through a fully digital platform – COWIN and the process continues.

Singh said, "India has a dedicated mission mode program for Digital Health -The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, which has delivered nearly 220 million electronic health records. Ayushman Bharat Yojna provides free treatment of upto five lakh rupees in the best of hospitals to eligible beneficiaries."

He also informed that e-Sanjeevani tele consultations are 6.72 million, eSanjeevani HWC (Provider-to-Provider) is about 5.84 million, and eSanjeevani OPD (Patient-to-Doctor) numbers stand at 0.9 million.

Dwelling on the pandemic challenges, Singh said, "COVID-19 has pushed for the worldwide adoption of technology in health on a large scale. He said, during the pandemic, the world had come to a standstill, and since the doctors could not meet the patients, all were compelled to adopt technology to connect."

He also pointed out that the National Health Policy in 2017 talked about the ecosystem approach to digital health and it had proposed Telemedicine services to be an integral part of the proposed health and wellness centres, much before the onset of pandemic.

Singh concluded that India has become the world’s most advanced healthcare system, with the latest technology tools deployed, across care delivery. He said, everyone working in healthcare needs to adopt digitalization across healthcare. Clinicians and professionals working in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, hospitals, and insurance will have to plan their forays for digitalization on a fast pace basis, the Minister opined.

This summit is in partnership with global bodies working in digital health and co-hosted by the Internet Governance Forum, United Nations. Over 1,500 delegates from 35 countries are participating in this summit.