Former UIDAI chairperson J. Satyanarayana delivering the Dr.V.Chandramowli Memorial Lecture at the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is grappling with a significant outcome gap, former Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairperson J. Satyanarayana said, cautioning that the system is yet to deliver tangible value to citizens despite the rapid expansion of Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs.
Delivering the Dr. V.Chandramowli Memorial Lecture at the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad, he noted that the average user has generated fewer than one digital health record in three years, even though the national target is five a year. He added that linking health records does not, by itself, create a personal health record and that fewer than 15% of records have been linked by private providers or by citizens.
“The mission continues to encounter resistance from healthcare professionals and will require substantial investment in capacity building and behavioural change before it can meet its goals,” he added.
In his lecture, Mr. Satyanarayana laid out the structural, technological and behavioural hurdles that India must overcome to build a robust nationwide digital health ecosystem. He urged policymakers, technologists and medical professionals to adopt the same disciplined design and implementation strategy that enabled India to achieve a breakthrough in digital payments.
Drawing comparisons with international systems, he pointed to Canada and Australia, where personal health records form the core of the digital health architecture. Although both countries faced early difficulties, he said they are now largely satisfied with their systems and remain nearly a decade ahead of India. He contrasted this with the experience of Indian users, who have not yet perceived the immediate value of maintaining digital health records.
Mr. Satyanarayana used the example of UPI to explain the hesitation. “Even an uneducated street vendor uses UPI multiple times a day because the value is instantly visible in the form of secure, frictionless and immediate payments. Digital health has not yet offered such a clear and compelling benefit. As long as health data remains an abstract concept rather than a tool that directly improves care, widespread adoption will remain out of reach,” he stated.
Mr. Satyanarayana added that the real challenge lies in privacy safeguards and regulatory obligations. “Trust must be built into every layer of the system and data security must be embedded by design. The recently-notified digital data protection rules have introduced stringent penalties for violations and further strengthened the framework for safeguarding sensitive health information,” he said.
Published – November 18, 2025 07:34 pm IST
