A digital health identity under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) will not be mandatory to get vaccinated when immunisation against COVID-19 is available, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday, October 20.
The ambitious NDHM programme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech. As per the programme, everyone enrolled for the mission will get a Health ID that will ease access to medical services.
"The NDHM, as it exists today, does not make a digital ID or health ID mandatory to receive service under the digital ecosystem that NDHM is creating. To say it would become mandatory for vaccination and those who do not have health ID's would be deprived is probably not the right interpretation," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference.
He said in cases where beneficiaries did not have health IDs, other IDs could be utilised, further adding that the process would be almost like an "electoral scenario" where multiple IDs are prescribed beforehand so that no one is deprived of the benefits of vaccination on the designated day.
