Aarogyapath: Indian Government’s initiative to provide real-time availability of critical healthcare supplies

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has launched a web-based solution called AaorogyaPath for the healthcare supply chain. The CSIR National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal that aims at providing real-time availability of critical healthcare supplies is now functional. AarogyaPath has been designed to cater to the needs of all stakeholders of the healthcare supply chain namely manufacturers, suppliers, and customers.

AaorogyaPath has been developed in partnership with Sarvodaya Infotech. The Government of India has encouraged institutional users and manufacturers or authorized suppliers of healthcare essentials to register with the portal and participate actively towards the cause.

The portal was launched by Rajesh Bhushan officer on special duty, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in presence of DG CSIR, Dr Shekhar C Mande. Sudhir Garg Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME and Dr Vijay Chauthiawale Pharma Sector Expert were guests of honor at the launch event. Dr Shekhar Mande complemented the CSIR team involved in the development of the portal, which was led by Dr Anjan Ray, Director CSIR-IIP.

During the present national health emergency arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein there is a severe disruption in the supply chain the ability to produce and deliver the critical items may be compromised due to a variety of reasons. AarogyaPath, which means providing a path that leads one on a journey towards Aarogya (healthy life), was developed to address these challenges.

This integrated public platform that provides single-point availability of key healthcare good scan be helpful to customers in tackling a number of routinely experienced issues, says a PIB release. These issues include dependence on limited suppliers, time-consuming processes to identify good quality products, limited access to suppliers who can supply standardized products at reasonable prices within desired timelines, lack of awareness about the latest product launches, and so on.

It also helps manufacturers and suppliers to reach a wide network of customers efficiently, overcoming gaps in connectivity between them and potential demand centers like nearby pathological laboratories, medical stores, hospitals, etc. It will also create opportunities for business expansion due to an expanded slate of buyers and visibility of new requirements for products.

Over time, analytics from this platform is expected to generate early signals to manufacturers on overcapacity as well as on looming shortages. This would help to reduce wastage of resources due to inefficient forecasting and excess manufacturing, generate awareness about the demand for new technologies.