National Conference on ‘Universal Access to Healthcare: Digital Solutions’ inaugurated in New Delhi

The focus was particularly on rural and remote areas.

The National Conference on “Universal Access to Healthcare: Digital Solutions” was inaugurated in New Delhi on 6 September. 

Dr. V.K. Paul, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog, led the opening of the event, with Shri Apurva Chandra, Union Health Secretary, and Shri Bharat Lal, Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), also in attendance.

The conference focused on improving access to affordable and quality healthcare through digital solutions, particularly for rural and remote areas. 

Paul emphasised the importance of a strong primary healthcare system and presented five key principles for digital health solutions, including widespread implementation, inclusivity to bridge the digital divide, adherence to human rights and protection against cyber fraud, user-friendliness, and enhancement of quality of life.

Chandra also discussed the goals of the national digital mission, including reducing healthcare disparities between urban and rural areas. He highlighted the success of the CoWIN and Aarogya Setu apps in managing over 220 crore vaccinations and announced plans to expand this model through the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. 

Moreover, Chandra introduced the upcoming U-Win portal, which will maintain digital health records for millions of women and children, and touched on the National Health Claims Exchange and advancements in artificial intelligence.

Lal, meanwhile, underlined that healthcare is a fundamental human right and discussed NHRC’s broader role in healthcare. He stressed the promise of digital technologies in advancing universal healthcare and detailed NHRC’s involvement in addressing mental health and leprosy issues.

The conference also featured the release of a report titled Leveraging Digital Solutions for Universal Health Coverage by the Sankala Foundation. Sessions covered “Models of Change in Healthcare,” “Future Frontiers in Digital Health,” and “Technology-enabled Universal Health Coverage.”