The Hindu Business Line, New Delhi, 5 July 2021
In its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, India has made its COVID tracking and tracing App CoWIN open source as software is one area where there are no resource constraints, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday while addressing a CoWIN Global Conclave in which close to 400 health and technology experts from around 142 countries had participated.
“With nearly 200 million users, this ‘Aarogya Setu’ app is a readily available package for developers. Having been used in India, you can be sure that it has been tested in the real world for speed and scale,” Modi said.
According to sources, several countries showed interest in adoption of CoWIN platform and the External Affairs Ministry will work with the National Health Authority for enabling adaptation and adoption of the platform by these interested countries.
“Interest has already been shown by Vietnam, Lao, PDR, Cyprus, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Maldives, Malawi and Guyana. The platform is also being offered to World Health Organisation’s COVID Technology Access Pool (C-TAP),” one of the sources said.
Modi further added that the biggest lesson from the pandemic is that all the countries should work and move ahead together. “Right from the beginning of the pandemic, India has been committed to sharing all its experiences, expertise and resources with the global community in this battle,” he said.
People will need to prove that they have been vaccinated and CoWIN is helping in that direction by keeping the proof safe and secure, the PM noted. “All of this is not possible without an end-to-end digital approach.”
“People also must have a record of when and where and by whom they have been vaccinated. Given how precious each dose of the vaccines is, Governments are also concerned about making sure that each dose is tracked, and wastage is minimised,” Modi said.
Modi said, CoWIN will be available to any and all countries soon and the conclave is the first step to introduce this platform to all the countries. “This is the platform through which India has administered 350 million doses of COVID vaccines. A few days ago, we vaccinated about 9 million people in one day,” he further stated.
Digital health network
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of National Health Authority, RS Sharma, who was also present at the conclave said India is now focussing on creating a National Digital Health programme which, in a couple of years, will ensure that the entire country is connected through a grid that connects and validates the identities of patients, healthcare providers, healthcare facilities and the pharmacies.
“All these stakeholders will get connected through an open and interoperable grid that will leverage the extensive internet connectivity and the robust digital identity – Aadhaar, helping plug the current gaps in healthcare delivery,” Vardhan said.
