Digital health is a great enabler in delivery of health care services and has the potential to support overall universal health coverage targets, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Health Minister on Monday said and added a two-pronged approach has been adopted in this regard with a focus on digital health through policy framework and by creating a digital ecosystem for path breaking interventions.
These focus on not just availability, accessibility, affordability but also equity of health services, said the Minister at the inaugural of the two-day conference here co-hosted by the Ministry and the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office.
"It is time to move from 'silos to systems' with collaboration of all countries for enhanced coverage and quality of healthcare services," he said in his virtual address at the 'Global Conference on Digital Health - Taking Universal Health Coverage to the Last Citizen', a co-branded event under India's G20 Presidency organised by WHO - South-East Asia Region in collaboration with the Ministry.
Reiterating India's commitment towards Universal Health Coverage, the Minister cited digital interventions have become the foundations of many crucial health programmes such as reproductive child healthcare, Ni-kshay, TB control programme, integrated disease surveillance system, hospital information system, among many others.
Addressing the event, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, said digital health can significantly improve the quality, accessibility, affordability and sustainability of person centric health services and effectiveness of disease management.
"Digital health is a critical imperative today as it can democratize healthcare and fast track what our Region has been working intensely towards since 2014 - the universal health coverage,” she said.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has particularly highlighted the importance of the application of digital technologies to health and its potential to strengthen health systems, prevent disease and enhance service delivery at the global, national and sub-national level, she said.
Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary said each country must have its own digital health strategy, which should be evolving and dynamic, and must be part of a network to benefit from skill sets from outside.
