A high-level delegation from the Government of Kenya visited the National Health Authority (NHA) in New Delhi on February 19 for a detailed knowledge exchange on India’s flagship health insurance and digital health programmes, with discussions centred on technology-enabled governance, fraud control and scalable public health financing.
The delegation was led by Dr. Gregory Ganda, County Minister for Health, Kisumu County, and included senior officials representing both Kenya’s national health leadership and county-level administrations, reflecting interest across tiers of the country’s health system.
The Kenyan team was received by NHA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal and senior officials, who presented India’s two major health initiatives: Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
PM-JAY, described as the world’s largest government-funded health assurance programme, was discussed in detail with a focus on its technology backbone. Officials outlined how Aadhaar-authenticated beneficiary verification, defined pre-authorisation timelines, hospital risk profiling and structured claims management have been used to embed accountability within the system. Particular attention was drawn to NHA’s multi-layered anti-fraud architecture, which uses machine learning, deep learning and image analytics across a network of more than 33,000 empanelled hospitals. The delegation also examined India’s federal implementation model, which allows state-level operational flexibility within a nationally governed policy framework.
Since its launch in 2018, PM-JAY has facilitated more than 11.6 crore hospital admissions, with treatment claims amounting to over ₹1.67 lakh crore (approximately $18 billion), providing financial protection to vulnerable populations.
Discussions on ABDM focused on India’s use of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) approach to create a consent-based, interoperable framework for health data exchange across public and private providers, laboratories and frontline health workers. The platform has generated over 860 million Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs and linked more than 882 million electronic health records, enabling patient-owned, longitudinal health records accessible across care settings.
Both sides explored the potential application of interoperable digital infrastructure to drug logistics and utilisation tracking, identifying supply chain governance and rational drug use as areas for further collaboration.
The visit was positioned within the broader context of South-South cooperation, with emphasis on co-developing scalable, technology-driven and citizen-centric health systems while leveraging digital public goods to reduce cost barriers. The engagement is expected to inform future collaborative pathways between India and Kenya in digital health architecture and health financing reform.
The National Health Authority functions as the apex body of the Government of India responsible for implementing AB PM-JAY and ABDM under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with a mandate to advance universal health coverage through financial protection, digital innovation and evidence-based policymaking.
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