The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched in September 2021, is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to create a unified, citizen-centric digital healthcare ecosystem. The mission seeks to connect patients, hospitals, doctors, laboratories, pharmacies, insurers and government health programmes through a secure, interoperable digital network, making healthcare delivery more efficient, accessible and paperless.
India has already achieved a significant milestone under the mission, with more than 104 crore digital health records linked to over 93 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers. This has made ABDM one of the world’s largest digital health ecosystems.
Why was ABDM launched?
India’s journey towards Universal Health Coverage requires a robust digital public infrastructure capable of serving a large and diverse population. ABDM was introduced to bridge this gap by enabling secure management of patient records, seamless portability of health information and better coordination among healthcare providers.
The mission allows citizens to securely access and share their medical records at any ABDM-enabled healthcare facility with their consent. It also generates anonymised health data that can support disease surveillance, healthcare planning and the development of artificial intelligence-based healthcare solutions.
What is ABHA?
At the core of ABDM is the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), a unique 14-digit digital health identifier. Much like Aadhaar serves as a digital identity, ABHA enables individuals to securely link their medical records across hospitals, laboratories, insurers and national health programmes.
Patients remain in complete control of their data, as health records can only be accessed or shared after their explicit, time-bound consent. The system ensures that citizens can carry their medical history digitally and access healthcare services anywhere within the ABDM network.
The digital ecosystem behind ABDM
While ABHA is the foundation, ABDM functions as a comprehensive digital health ecosystem. It includes the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR), which serves as a verified national database of doctors and healthcare professionals, and the Health Facility Registry (HFR), a nationwide repository of hospitals, clinics, laboratories and pharmacies.
Another key component is the Unified Health Interface (UHI), an open digital network often compared to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for healthcare. UHI enables patients to discover healthcare providers, book appointments and access services regardless of the application used by either the patient or the provider.
Aarogya Setu 2.0 expands beyond COVID-19
Originally developed as India’s COVID-19 contact-tracing application, Aarogya Setu has now evolved into a comprehensive digital health platform under ABDM. Launched in its revamped form on June 29, 2026, Aarogya Setu 2.0 acts as a Personal Health Record (PHR) application and a single gateway to digital healthcare services.
The application allows users to create ABHA accounts, manage health records, digitally register at hospitals through Scan & Register, access insurance information, locate nearby healthcare facilities, check blood availability through e-RaktKosh and book both teleconsultations and in-person appointments through UHI. It also offers AI-driven health insights and integrates with wearable devices to monitor health indicators such as heart rate, glucose levels, steps and calories.
Reducing hospital waiting time
One of ABDM’s most successful initiatives has been the National Health Authority’s Scan & Share service, introduced in 2022. Patients visiting participating hospitals can scan a QR code to generate a digital queue token linked to their ABHA account, allowing demographic information to be retrieved automatically instead of filling physical registration forms.
According to a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), the service has reduced outpatient registration time from nearly one hour to just two to five minutes. As of June 18, 2026, more than 23.21 crore ABHA-linked digital tokens had been issued across healthcare facilities in the country.
Connecting hospitals and healthcare providers
ABDM allows both public and private healthcare institutions to join a common digital network. Hospitals, clinics, laboratories and pharmacies can create and access patients’ digital health records after obtaining consent, ensuring continuity of care across different healthcare providers.
To encourage adoption, the government introduced the Digital Health Incentive Scheme (DHIS), under which healthcare facilities and Digital Solution Companies receive financial incentives for digitising records and integrating with ABDM. As of June 18, 2026, hospitals had received more than Rs 107 crore, diagnostic centres, laboratories and pharmacies had received Rs 2.95 crore, while Digital Solution Companies had received over Rs 26 crore under the scheme.
Supporting smaller clinics
To accelerate digitisation at the grassroots level, the government launched eSushrut@Clinic, a lightweight Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Designed specifically for smaller healthcare facilities, the platform simplifies patient registration, billing, reporting and digital record management.
Only healthcare providers verified through the Healthcare Professionals Registry and Health Facility Registry can use the platform. More than 2,200 healthcare facilities have already been onboarded.
Making insurance claims faster
ABDM also aims to simplify health insurance through the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX), a digital platform that connects hospitals, insurers, patients and regulators. It enables faster exchange of claims-related information, helping reduce discharge delays and administrative costs while speeding up insurance claim processing.
The platform also allows patients to view their medical history, insurance benefits and claims information in one place, while healthcare providers can access a patient’s treatment history, with consent, to avoid duplication of tests and improve clinical decision-making.
Unified Health Interface: UPI for healthcare
The Unified Health Interface removes the limitation of patients and healthcare providers having to use the same digital platform. Through a common gateway operated by the National Health Authority, any patient using a UHI-enabled application can discover and connect with verified healthcare providers across different platforms.
The platform currently supports services such as doctor consultations, ambulance booking, blood bank discovery, PM-JAY hospital search and Jan Aushadhi Kendra discovery. Built on principles of interoperability, fair discoverability, verified providers and open protocols, UHI is expected to become the backbone of India’s digital healthcare transactions.
Privacy and security at the core
ABDM has been built on a privacy-by-design framework. Patient records are not stored on a central government server but remain with the hospital, laboratory or insurer that originally created them. Health information is shared only after explicit patient consent and can be revoked at any time.
Every application seeking to integrate with ABDM must first undergo sandbox testing and security audits to ensure compliance with privacy and cybersecurity standards before it becomes operational.
Driving India’s AI ambitions in healthcare
Beyond improving healthcare delivery, ABDM is expected to play a crucial role in strengthening India’s artificial intelligence ecosystem. The anonymised health data generated through the platform can help monitor disease trends, improve healthcare planning and support AI-based medical innovations without compromising patient privacy.
To complement this vision, the government launched the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India (SAHI) and the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI (BODH) in February 2026. While SAHI provides ethical and governance guidelines for AI deployment in healthcare, BODH enables developers to train AI models without accessing raw patient data, ensuring privacy remains protected.
The road ahead
With more than 104 crore digital health records linked to over 93 crore ABHA accounts, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission has become one of India’s most ambitious digital public infrastructure initiatives. By reducing paperwork, shortening hospital waiting times, simplifying insurance claims and enabling nationwide portability of medical records, the mission is steadily transforming healthcare delivery.
The government’s long-term objective is to connect every citizen and every healthcare facility to the ABDM network, creating a fully integrated digital health ecosystem that makes quality healthcare more accessible, efficient and secure across the country.
