NDHM Sandbox Environment under National Digital Health Mission

Sandbox allows technologies or products to be tested in a contained environment

• The central government has planned to evaluate the outcome of the Phase 1 of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) for the expansion of the project after spending rupees 118.2 million on the Mission so far
• Under this mission, “NDHM Sandbox Environment” has also been established to promote innovation and build trust
• NDHM Sandbox allows technologies or products to be tested in a contained environment

Key highlights of NDHM Sandbox

• NDHM Sandbox allows technologies or products to be tested in a contained environment
• The Sandbox Guidelines (‘the Guidelines’) guide participation in the Sandbox
• The Information and Technology Ministry’s expertise has been taken to handle the technical aspects of the sandbox, through its Standardization Testing and Quality Certificate Directorate (‘STQC’)
• The STQC will provide quality assurance services for the software solutions proposed
• Technologies or products will be assessed on their compliance with NDHM guidelines, while information on market and consumer reactions will be collected
• Interested entities must comply with the Health Data Management Policy, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019,6 and ensure their software solutions have been audited by the STQC
• The STQC audit will ensure that the software solutions have the appropriate data protection and security controls
• The NDHM Sandbox will facilitate the integration of platforms and systems with the building blocks, enable responsible innovation in services, and promote efficiency
• Interested entities can apply through the NDHM Sandbox portal

The indicative list of the areas it is interested

• Products/Services – health clouds, e-pharmacy, health IDs, registries, telemedicine, electronic records
• Convergence and Expansion of NDHM – cybersecurity, digital KYC, smart contracts, health insurance/assurance, retail health
• Technology – data analytics, AI/ML applications, blockchain applications, other APIs, and mobile applications
• Participating in the NDHM as a user, provider, or repository

Advantages in participating in SANDBOX

• Participation in NDHM Sandbox is a great way for entities to showcase their technology solutions. The Guidelines themselves acknowledge that assessing compatibility with NDHM guidelines “will help organizations intending to be a part of the National Digital Health Ecosystem to become a HIP or HIU or efficiently link with building blocks of NDHM
• It will create opportunities for interested entities to demonstrate practical challenges caused by the discord between regulations and technology solutions. It means that the Government can make informed policy decisions based on feedback from entities and users
• It is becoming increasingly clear that the Health ID and NDHM’s federated and stacked ecosystem will be integrated with other projects
• Take for example Niti Aayog’s paper on Public Health surveillance, which aims to use aggregated and anonymized data from the NDHM to make better policy interventions in public health
• If and when the Government does decide to begin such an integration, companies that have demonstrated capabilities needed for public health surveillance could find it easier to provide technological support for this integration

Policy and Economy