Nearly 9 lakh Nagaland citizens have registered under the Ayushman Bharat ecosystem, boosting digital healthcare access.
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DIMAPUR — Nearly 8.96 lakh people in Nagaland—about 38% of the state's population—have created Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs, marking significant progress in the state's digital health journey, National Health Authority (NHA) CEO Sunil Kumar Barnwal said on Thursday while launching Dimapur as the state's Model District under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
Speaking at the Model District and Model Facilities workshop held at Zone Niathu by The Park, Chümoukedima, Barnwal said that the rapid adoption of ABHA IDs would enable citizens to securely access their complete medical history, improving diagnosis, continuity of care and patient-centric healthcare delivery across institutions.
He informed that 1,352 health facilities in Nagaland have already been registered under the Health Facility Registry and urged all healthcare providers to join the national digital health ecosystem by integrating their services with the ABDM platform.
Barnwal stressed that end-to-end digitisation of hospitals, pharmacies and diagnostic centres would reduce paperwork, improve transparency and allow patients to access their medical records digitally through mobile applications.
He also highlighted the potential of digital health records to support Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based healthcare solutions tailored to Nagaland's population, adding that locally generated digital health data would be critical for developing AI tools for disease screening and early diagnosis.
Calling on healthcare institutions to adopt digital systems within the next four months, he explained that the Model District initiative is intended to demonstrate that complete digitisation of healthcare services is both achievable and scalable.
He added that hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY and the Chief Minister's Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) would benefit from investing in digital systems, as integrated Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS) would enable faster claim processing while reducing fraud and administrative delays.
Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur Dr. Tinojongshi Chang said that the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission envisions a healthcare system where every citizen has a unique digital health ID and medical records are seamlessly accessible, making healthcare services more equitable, efficient and inclusive.
He informed that the digital registration and the "Scan and Share" facility have already made healthcare delivery more accessible and patient-friendly, adding that Dimapur's selection as a Model District and District Hospital Dimapur as a Model Facility reflects the collective efforts of the Health and Family Welfare department and other stakeholders to modernise healthcare services.
A keynote address by Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Anoop Kinchi, was also read out during the programme. In his message, Kinchi described the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission as a flagship initiative to build a unified, interoperable and citizen-centric digital health ecosystem connecting patients, doctors, hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies through secure digital platforms.
He said that the mission is anchored on four pillars—the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), Health Facility Registry (HFR), Health Professional Registry (HPR) and Unified Health Interface (UHI)—which enable secure, consent-based sharing of health records.
The inaugural session was followed by technical presentations on the implementation of the ABDM, the Model District initiative and the status of nominated model facilities in the public and private sectors.
Representatives also shared experiences on implementing the NextGen e-Hospital system and other digital health initiatives.