Health ministry sees application of satellite communications in Cowin, Ayushman Bharat

The health ministry sees many ways that satellite communications could be used in Cowin, Ayushman Bharat, Integrated Health Intelligence Platform (IHIP), e-Sanjeevani, and other programmes. This could have a huge effect on India's healthcare system.

Speaking at the India Space Congress, Rajesh Bhushan, secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that records of 12 vaccine-preventive diseases can be onboarded on the Cowin platform using satellite communication.

"Imagine if Cowin was backed by satellite communication, the kind of value addition it would have created. Going ahead, now that you've created this platform, and since the Covid cases are coming down, what do you use it for?

"You use it in this country for 12 vaccine-preventable diseases -- which the federal government in any case does, but does it physically and manually; those reports are not captured on Cowin," he said.

In terms of Ayshman Bharat, in which residents are given unique IDs to maintain longitudinal digital records, Bhushan stated at the event that satellite communication would help in reaching out to rural areas.

In addition, he envisions its application in the government's telemedicine and consultation portal, Aarogya Setu and e-Sanjeevani.

"As health services improve in the country, the number of aged people in the country is also increasing. With age, issues of mobility come in. Thus it becomes necessary for outpatient services and health consultation to be provided at home," he said while explaining how satellite communication can help in this regard.

G Satheesh Reddy, who is the Scientific Advisor to the Defense Ministry, was also at the event. In his speech, he talked about how important it is to deal with space debris. "Space community needs to look at it seriously. It is a major issue. You need to look at incidents caused by space debris," he said.