Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JUN 18 (NPN): In a major push towards digital healthcare transformation, Dimapur has been designated as Nagaland’s first Model District under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), with authorities setting a target of establishing a fully digital healthcare ecosystem within four months.
ABDM model district initiative was launched by National Health Authority (NHA) chief executive officer Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal at a workshop organised by the Health & Family Welfare Department in collaboration with the NHA at Niathu Resort on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering, Barnwal said ABDM represented the future of healthcare by shifting the focus from episodic treatment to continuous, data-driven and preventive care. He noted that India’s traditional healthcare system has largely been fragmented, with patients often receiving treatment without access to their complete medical history. According to him, this frequently results in inefficiencies and limited diagnosis as healthcare providers rely heavily on patient recollection rather than comprehensive medical records.
Barnwal said ABDM seeks to address this challenge by creating an integrated digital health ecosystem where hospitals, pharmacies and diagnostic centres can securely share patient information with consent, regardless of the software platforms they use.
“The patient gets empowered when their entire health history. From vaccination to treatment is accessible in one place” he said.
He informed that more than 92 crore citizens across the country have already been issued Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs. In Nagaland, nearly 8.96 lakh people, or around 38% of the population, have been covered so far. He called for concerted efforts to achieve universal enrolment in the state.
Barnwal explained that the digital health ecosystem was built around three key components—ABHA IDs for citizens, the Health Facility Registry (HFR), and the Health Professional Registry (HPR)—which provide verified digital identities for patients, healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals.
He said digitisation would enable patients to receive prescriptions, diagnostic reports and medical records directly on their mobile devices, reducing dependence on physical documents while improving transparency, efficiency and continuity of care.
Highlighting the significance of the Model District initiative, Barnwal said Dimapur was selected to demonstrate that comprehensive digital transformation of healthcare services can be achieved within a short period. He urged healthcare institutions to move beyond partial digitisation limited to registration and billing systems and adopt complete digital record management.
He also stressed the importance of digital health records in supporting the development of artificial intelligence-based healthcare solutions tailored to local populations. Given Nagaland’s unique demographic and genetic diversity, he said AI models should be trained using local health data to ensure greater accuracy and effectiveness.
Barnwal further encouraged hospitals empanelled under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) to fully integrate with the digital platform. He said digital claims processing would improve efficiency, reduce fraud and facilitate faster payments through a proposed green-channel mechanism.
He revealed that NHA aims to bring all empanelled hospitals across the country onto the ABDM platform and the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX) by January next year.
Calling digital transformation inevitable, Barnwal said the younger generation was increasingly “digital-first and soon AI-first,” warning that healthcare institutions not connected to the digital ecosystem risk becoming irrelevant. He expressed confidence that Nagaland, owing to its relatively smaller size, could emerge as a model state for digital healthcare in the country.
In this short speech, deputy commissioner (DC) Dimapur, Dr. Tinojongshi Chang, described the initiative as a landmark step towards making healthcare more accessible, efficient and inclusive through digital innovation.
He said Dimapur’s recognition as a model district reflected the collective efforts of the H&FW department, healthcare workers and stakeholders, and assured full administrative support for successful implementation of the programme.
Chang urged healthcare providers to work towards achieving complete digital healthcare delivery at the grassroots level and said Dimapur should serve as a benchmark for the rest of the state and the country.
Responding to concerns regarding the security and privacy of medical records, Barnwal clarified that ABDM does not maintain a central repository of health records.
He said medical data would remain with the originating healthcare facility, whether a hospital, pharmacy or diagnostic centre, and would only be linked to the patient’s ABHA ID.
“The record remains with the hospital and the patient. Only the patient and the concerned healthcare provider have access to it,” he said.
Barnwal added that health records are shared only when a patient grants consent for transfer from one healthcare facility to another, with information exchanged directly between institutions.
Earlier, Principal Director H&FW, Dr. Mereninla Senlem, delivered the welcome address and read out the keynote message of commissioner and secretary, state mission director ABDM, H&FW department. ABDM state nodal officer, Dr. Nyanthung Kikon, proposed the vote of thanks.