Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Monday, 29 June unveiled a series of digital health initiatives in New Delhi, including the Ayushman Sarathi–PM-JAY WhatsApp Chatbot and a unified Drug Registry, aimed at improving service delivery and beneficiary access under the government's flagship health schemes.

What Ayushman Sarathi Does

The Ayushman Sarathi chatbot enables PM-JAY beneficiaries to access essential health scheme services directly through WhatsApp, without visiting government offices or calling helpline centres. Built on secure API-based integrations with PM-JAY systems, the platform delivers real-time information round the clock.

Services available through the chatbot include eligibility checks under PM-JAY, applying for and downloading the Ayushman Card, completing or redoing eKYC, linking Aadhaar, locking or unlocking the PM-JAY card, and accessing the Ayushman Vaya Vandana Card for citizens aged 70 years and above, among others.

According to an official statement, 'The chatbot serves as an important digital interface between PM-JAY beneficiaries and the National Health Authority, promoting efficient service delivery and improved beneficiary satisfaction. The platform also supports data-driven governance by enabling feedback collection, grievance management, and continuous improvement in healthcare service delivery.'

The Unified Drug Registry

Nadda also launched the Drug Registry, a standardised digital platform designed to serve as a single source of truth for medicine-related data across India's healthcare systems. Conceptualised under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), it enables consistent identification, storage, exchange, and use of drug information.

The registry was developed in collaboration with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the National Resource Centre for EHR Standards (NRCeS), based in Pune. It leverages international standards such as SNOMED CT to ensure interoperability and semantic consistency across platforms.

Unified Health Interface: Bridging Digital Health Platforms

The Health Minister also launched the Unified Health Interface (UHI), described as an open, interoperable network for digital health services and the service layer of ABDM. Unlike the current ecosystem — where both patient and provider must be on the same platform to interact — UHI allows citizens and healthcare providers to connect across different digital applications using common technical standards.

When a citizen uses a UHI-enabled app to search for a health service, the request is routed through a Gateway to registered service providers. The entire journey — from discovery and booking to fulfillment — is facilitated through a shared protocol, regardless of the platform used.

The network uses core ABDM building blocks: ABHA as the patient identifier, the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Health Facility Registry (HFR) for provider verification, and the Health Information Exchange for consent-based data sharing.

Broader Significance

Taken together, the three launches mark a significant push to digitise India's public health infrastructure — reducing friction for citizens accessing government health entitlements while standardising drug and provider data across a fragmented ecosystem. The initiatives are expected to deepen the reach of PM-JAY, which covers hundreds of millions of low-income beneficiaries, by meeting them on a platform — WhatsApp — that already has near-universal penetration in India.