Union Health Minister JP Nadda launches Drug Registry to standardise medicine-related information
New Delhi, June 29
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Monday launched the Drug Registry, a unified and standardised digital platform for drug-related information, aimed at ensuring consistent identification, storage, exchange and usage of medicine data across healthcare systems in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Drug Registry has been conceptualised under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and will serve as a single source of truth for medicines in India. The ministry said the platform seeks to address inconsistencies arising from the use of different names and formats for the same drug across healthcare systems, which can lead to duplication, data entry errors and lack of interoperability.
The ministry stated that medicines are among the most critical data elements in healthcare delivery, and the absence of standardised drug information creates challenges in clinical decision-making, e-prescriptions, supply chain management and continuity of care.
Drug Registry will also enable transparency, trust and seamless access to drug information across the nation and also a stronger digital backbone for India's healthcare future
The Drug Registry has been developed in collaboration with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the National Resource Centre for EHR Standards (NRCeS), Pune. It leverages international standards, including SNOMED CT, to ensure interoperability and semantic consistency across digital health platforms.
According to the ministry, the registry includes standardised drug codes covering generic medicines, branded medicines and substances. It currently contains more than 1.23 lakh branded drugs, over 10,000 generic drugs and more than 29,000 substances.
The platform allows users to search and identify medicines through generic names, brand names, substances and manufacturers. Built on standardised terminology aligned with global standards, it aims to ensure accuracy, transparency and seamless data exchange across healthcare systems.
The ministry said the Drug Registry is designed to integrate with Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS), e-prescription platforms, doctor-facing applications and other ABDM-compliant digital health solutions. It also provides open APIs to facilitate seamless integration and strengthen interoperability across India's digital healthcare ecosystem by connecting healthcare providers, digital applications and citizens to a verified and comprehensive drug database.
The Drug Registry is the fourth core registry being developed under ABDM, alongside the ABHA Registry for individuals, the Healthcare Professional Registry (HPR) and the Health Facility Registry (HFR).
— ANI
Reader Comments
Very happy to see ABDM moving in the right direction. This will reduce medication errors in clinical decision-making. But I hope the data is regularly updated and accessible in regional languages too—something many patients and small clinic doctors need. Great initiative overall.
As someone who works in pharma supply chain, this is a game-changer! Standardized codes for 1.23 lakh branded drugs and 10K generics will eliminate data entry errors in inventory management. The open APIs for integration with HMIS are exactly what we need. Kudos to Nadda and the team.
Good idea, but implementation is key! Many govt hospitals in rural areas still lack basic HMIS. Without proper training and infrastructure, this registry might just be another digital platform that few use. Hope the ministry ensures offline accessibility and regular audits to maintain data quality.
This is brilliant! The lack of interoperability between healthcare systems has been a nightmare for pharmacists like me. Now we can verify prescriptions from any doctor and avoid dispensing errors. Also, linking with CDSCO ensures regulatory compliance. More power to digital health in Bharat! 💪🚀
Nice to see international standards like SNOMED CT being used for semantic consistency. But I worry about data privacy—with so many registries (ABHA, HPR, HFR and now Drug Registry), how will patient data be secured? Also, will this help in tracking counterfeit drugs? That would be a huge plus for Indian patients.
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