Digital health, One Nation One Ration cards launched in Chandigarh

The One Nation One Ration Card and the digital health card schemes have been launched in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, officials said on Thursday.

Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Union Territory administrator V P Singh Badnore received the first digital health card at the launch, according to an official release.

The scheme is supposed to revolutionize the health administration in the country by providing digital health cards to each citizen.

Badnore received the card from UT adviser Manoj Parida at the Raj Bhawan here, the release said.

Parida said he proposed to cover the entire UT population within one month.

He said on the first day itself, 4,000 people have got their digital health cards online.

The digital data will contain details of doctors, their qualifications and medical infrastructure available for the citizens in the city. In future, it will be linked to e-pharmacy and tele-medicine too.

Digital health cards will enable doctors to look at the medical history of each person at the click of a button. Necessary care will be taken to ensure the privacy of the data and the medical information of card holders, the release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Saturday announced the launch of the National Digital Health Mission under which every Indian will get a health ID that will store the individual's medical records.

In his Independence Day address, the prime minister said the Mission will help reduce problems in getting treatment in various health facilities in the country and herald a new revolution in the sector.

Parida also launched One Nation and One Ration Card scheme in the city.

The scheme will enable the beneficiaries to get ration, even when they move out to other states or UTs.