India has been actively pursuing digital health initiatives to improve healthcare access, quality, and affordability across diverse strata of society. One of the initiatives includes the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. The mission aims to revolutionise India’s healthcare system by leveraging technology to make services accessible to the poorest of the nation. Given that 60 per cent of the Indian population is rural, how effective is the reach of India’s digital healthcare mission?

“The disparity in the rural-urban healthcare system in the country will hinder the potential of digital healthcare missions in India,”says Shyamal Santra, lead of public health and nutrition at Transform Rural India Foundation. He lays down the major pitfalls which impair India’s efforts to take digital healthcare to the corners of the country: