NHA invites comments on consultation paper on drug registry

The National Health Authority (NHA) has released a consultation paper on drug registry. Envisioned under the ambitious Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), drug registry is intended to be a single, up-to-date, centralised repository of all the drugs across all systems of medicine which are approved, and are available in the Indian market. The drug registry application is proposed to be designed using open-source technologies, and will be interoperable.

The consultation paper focusses only on drug registry within the National Digital Health Ecosystem and offers NHA’s current vision on the functionalities of the proposed drug registry, the process for its creation and potential benefits to various ecosystem stakeholders. Each section has specific open questions where feedback from stakeholders is sought. Comments from the public are invited to ensure that drug registry is designed and developed in a collaborative and consultative manner till 1st May, 2022.

Giving his views on the consultation papers, Dr R S Sharma, CEO, NHA, remarked, “Through drug registry, ABDM aims to provide a standardised, comprehensive set of verified data on all the approved drugs marketed in the country that would enable a more efficient regulatory process. To enable inclusivity and widen the perspectives on the table, I urge all stakeholders to go through the shared consultation papers and provide us with their valuable feedback.”

NHA will also organise a public webinar on drug registry to explain the consultation paper on 19th April, 2022 from 3 pm onwards. The links will be shared on the ABDM website and the official social media channels (Twitter and LinkedIn) of NHA.