Union Health Minister Launches Major Digital and Public Health Reforms

Summarize with:

New Delhi, June 29 (APAC Media): Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Monday launched a series of major healthcare and digital health initiatives at the 16th Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) Conference.

The move aims to strengthen healthcare delivery, improve maternal and child health, and accelerate digital transformation in the health sector.

The initiatives include a major maternal health roadmap, a digital platform for clinics, an interoperable health network, a national drug registry, revamped anaemia guidelines, a child health programme, and new ambulance standards.

SUMAN Roadmap 2030 for Maternal and Newborn Health

A key highlight of the conference was the launch of the SUMAN Roadmap 2030, a strategic framework aimed at reducing India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) to below 70 per one lakh live births by 2030, while also lowering neonatal and infant mortality rates.

The roadmap focuses on 130 districts across 13 high-focus states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, while also providing implementation guidance for all states and Union Territories. It introduces structured tracking of high-risk pregnancies across antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal stages to ensure timely intervention and improved care.

The roadmap combines healthcare infrastructure upgrades with stronger community outreach. Key interventions include pre-pregnancy folic acid supplementation, maternal nutrition support, dedicated care packages for pregnant women, improved referral transport and better maternal care facilities in underserved regions.

Community-based measures such as bi-weekly ASHA visits, SUMAN Panchayats and awareness initiatives will support early intervention. The strategy also includes AI-enabled labour rooms, enhanced maternal death surveillance and a centralised SUMAN Call Center to improve coordination and reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths.

eSushrut@Clinic for Small Healthcare Facilities

Another key announcement was eSushrut@Clinic, a cloud-based Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) developed by C-DAC for small clinics, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), sub-centers, and private clinics.

The platform enables healthcare facilities to digitise patient registration, billing, reporting and clinical workflows at low cost. It supports Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) services, including ABHA integration, Scan and Share, speech-to-text and digital health records.

The software will be free for three months and then available at Rs 299 per month for five users.

Unified Health Interface and Drug Registry

Nadda also launched the Unified Health Interface (UHI), an open digital network under ABDM that allows patients and healthcare providers to connect across multiple platforms.

Currently, UHI supports:
• Doctor consultation bookings
• Ambulance discovery and booking
• Blood bank searches
• Jan Aushadhi Kendra discovery
• PM-JAY hospital searches

Another major launch was the National Drug Registry, a standardised database of medicines developed under ABDM. It currently includes:
• 1.23 lakh branded medicines
• 10,000 generic drugs
• 29,000 substances

The registry aims to improve interoperability across hospital systems and e-prescription platforms.

Ayushman Sarathi and Anaemia Strategy

The health minister also launched Ayushman Sarathi, a WhatsApp chatbot offering 24×7 access to PM-JAY services, including eligibility checks, Ayushman card downloads, eKYC, and grievance redressal.

Operational guidelines for the revamped Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan were also released. The programme now expands from the 6x6x6 framework to a broader 7x7x7 strategy with a stronger focus on testing, treatment, nutrition, and digital tracking.

The upgraded model introduces advanced interventions for severe anaemia and better monitoring through integrated digital platforms.

Child Health, Maternal Care and Ambulance Standards

Nadda also launched the Samagra Shishu Bal Swasthya Karyakram (SSBSK), a unified child health programme covering children from birth to 36 months.

The programme focuses on home-based newborn care, early childhood development, maternal mental health screening, and digital tracking of child health.

Additionally, National Ambulance Services (NAS) 2026 guidelines were released to standardise emergency medical transport through GPS-enabled systems, improved staffing, better equipment, and faster emergency response nationwide.