The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is a national scheme creating an integrated digital health ecosystem to support universal health coverage in India. The initiative's origin lies in the National Health Policy, 2017, which emphasized digital health implementation. The National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB), released in July 2019, laid the foundation for the mission. It was first launched as the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2020, to break internal barriers in the healthcare system and achieve citizen-centric coverage. The NDHM was later rechristened as the ABDM in September 2021.
The scheme is implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It works by establishing a digital backbone with key components: the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), a unique 14-digit identifier for individuals, the Health Facility Registry (HFR), and the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR). The ABHA number allows for the secure, portable sharing of health records across multiple systems, strictly based on the individual's informed consent. The ABDM platform is leveraged by related schemes like the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) to improve efficiency and transparency. The mission is also a key part of the larger India Stack digital infrastructure.