New Delhi The National Health Authority (NHA) plans to use the CoVin platform for a universal immunization program to immunize children and pregnant women against preventable diseases, said NHA Chief Executive Officer RS Sharma. Sharma said that given that only 10,000 private hospitals are part of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the focus of the government is to increase their participation under the Centre’s flagship health scheme. He said that with AB-PMJAY adopting a zero-tolerance approach towards fraud and abuse, 210 hospitals have been weeded out, which are engaged in unethical practices, including denial of treatment to the beneficiaries of the scheme, while canceling around 50,000 suspicious transactions. have been done. Edited excerpts from an interview:
The CoWIN platform has been able to expand rapidly with the increasing pace of vaccination. What provisions are being made for immunization of children and adolescents in CoWIN?
With the phasing out of the vaccination programme, the CoWIN platform has rapidly expanded in an agile manner. This is evident from the multi-fold scale of the platform from 2-3 million vaccinations a day during Phases 1 and 2 to a global high of 25 million vaccinations a day during Phase 3. There were several private and government applications (UMANG, Aarogya Setu), which integrate with CoWIN’s API and provide vaccination registration services.
From January, the Vaccination Administration’s policy enabled the inclusion of the adolescent population. Initially, it was for the 15-17 age group, followed by the 12-14 age group. When the beneficiary does not have any other id proof then we have already included the school id as photo id proof. For people aged 12-17, Covaxin, Corbevax and Covovax are approved and digitally enabled for seamless registration and recording through CoWIN. Additionally, up to six members can be registered on a single mobile number, allowing parents to add their children to their registered CoWIN accounts.
In addition, discussions are underway to redesign the CoWIN platform to accommodate the Universal Immunization Program to provide immunizations to children and expectant mothers against preventable diseases.
Have other countries shown any interest in adopting this technology?
India decided to adopt a completely digital approach while planning its vaccination strategy. This has helped people prove that they have been vaccinated, facilitating the renewal of socio-economic activities in a phased manner. A safe, secure and reliable evidence helps people establish when, where and by whom they have been vaccinated. The digital approach also helped to track vaccination use and reduce wastage. India is providing the CoWIN platform free of cost to countries interested in adopting and adapting it. More than 140 countries participated in the CoWIN Global Conclave to learn about this technology. Following the conclave, nearly a dozen countries expressed interest in learning and sharing best practices on digital governance of the COVID immunization programme.
How do you plan to extend the benefits of AB-PMJAY?
PMJAY is catering to the population of 107.4 million households included in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011. This scheme has been implemented in 33 states and union territories. States/UTs in association with State Health Insurance Schemes have expanded the beneficiary base to 145 million households.
From 2021 onwards, we are using the AB-PMJAY platform to extend health benefits to other categories of beneficiaries. Employees State Insurance Scheme is now operational through AB-PMJAY platform (IT system, hospital network) in 157 districts. Building and construction workers in Bihar, Chandigarh, Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh have also been given benefits under AB-PMJAY. We are in discussion with nodal ministries to cover weaker sections like manual scavengers and transgender people.
In conclusion, I would like to add that the financial crisis due to hospitalization is not limited to poor families only. Any family not covered under a health insurance plan will face catastrophic health expenses. Unfortunately, many such “non-poor” families cannot afford to pay premiums for commercial health insurance policies. This section of society is known as the ‘missing middle’ and includes informal sector workers, self-employed, small business owners etc. The NHA is exploring options to expand health care protections for the “missing middle”. A pilot project is being launched in which insurance providers can use the AB-PMJAY platform to cover different population groups.