The Centre on Monday launched a national Drug Registry under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), aiming to standardise medicine-related data across India’s digital healthcare ecosystem. Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda inaugurated the platform, describing it as a key step toward building a unified and interoperable health information system in the country. Officials said the registry will function as a single verified source for drug information across healthcare platforms.
Developed in collaboration with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the National Resource Centre for EHR Standards (NRCeS), Pune, the registry is designed to ensure consistency in how medicines are identified and recorded. It follows international standards, including SNOMED CT, to support interoperability between different digital health systems. Authorities said this alignment is essential for enabling seamless exchange of medicine data across hospitals, pharmacies, and digital applications.
The Drug Registry includes standardised codes covering a wide range of pharmaceutical products. According to officials, it currently holds more than 1.23 lakh branded drugs, over 10,000 generic medicines, and more than 29,000 substances. The system allows users to search medicines using generic names, brand names, substances, or manufacturers, making identification more accurate and transparent for healthcare providers and institutions.
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The platform has been built to integrate with Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS), e-prescription tools, doctor-facing applications, and other ABDM-compliant digital health services. This integration is enabled through open APIs, allowing real-time exchange of validated drug data. Officials said the goal is to reduce errors in prescriptions and improve efficiency in treatment workflows across public and private healthcare systems.
The Drug Registry is one of the four core registries under ABDM, alongside the ABHA Registry, Healthcare Professional Registry, and Health Facility Registry. Together, these registries are intended to create a comprehensive digital backbone for India’s healthcare system. They are designed to ensure that patient, provider, facility, and medicine data remain connected within a single standardized framework.
Alongside the launch of the Drug Registry, JP Nadda also introduced several other digital health initiatives, including the Ayushman Sarathi PM-JAY WhatsApp chatbot, the Unified Health Interface (UHI), eSushrut@Clinic hospital management software developed by C-DAC, and the upgraded Aarogya Setu 2.0 app. Officials said these initiatives collectively aim to strengthen India’s digital health infrastructure and expand access to technology-driven healthcare services nationwide.
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