NHA to use open network for ABDM’s Unified Health Interface

Open protocol to ensure interoperability between digital health services

Following the Consultation Paper published on July 23, 2021 and the Public Webinar conducted on August 4, 2021, the National Health Authority (NHA) is proceeding with the development of the Unified Health Interface (UHI), an open network for interoperable digital health services.

As per an NHA press release, UHI will be a core component of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and NHA intends to adopt an Open Protocol to ensure interoperability.

During the UHI Consultation process, several inputs on technical and functional design were received from the public, following which a decision has been taken that Decentralised Health Protocol (DHP) will be adopted as core protocols of UHI.

Decentralised Health Protocol (DHP) is an Open Protocol which is being developed and improved by a community of contributors with the objective to bring inter-operability in digital health service delivery.

UHI will adopt major versions of DHPs developed by the community, to enable interoperable digital health services as a part of the ABDM network.

The release mentions that the NHA welcomes developers and contributors interested in UHI to join the DHP Community, which is

hosted on the Github platform at this link – https://github.com/dhp-project.

The DHP community is open for all and interested stakeholders are encouraged to contribute, review and provide feedback on these protocols, which are currently under development.

For further details on UHI, full text of the UHI Consultation Paper, as well as the recording of the UHI Public Webinar may be referred to. They are available for download on ABDM website at https://abdm.gov.in/home/consultationpapers.