Aarogya Setu Privacy Policy

Aarogya Setu was primarily launched to aid in tracing the contacts with COVID-19 positive persons. Primarily, Aarogya Setu was Contact Tracing App and assisted citizens in getting useful information about COVID-19. As the covid-19 spread and infection has majorly subsided across the nation, the contact tracing feature of the application has been discontinued. However, the app still shares COVID statistics/updates/guidelines and facilitate in downloading COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates. It also displays user status as “You are COVID-19 positive”, if patient’s mobile number given in ICMR database matches with registered mobile number of Aarogya Setu.

After discontinuation of contact tracing feature, Aarogya Setu has now been transformed into a National Health Application and is already offering plethora of health services such as creation of ABHA (Unique Health ID), providing telemedicine services, booking online appointments at Government/Private hospitals, registering Potential Blood Donor, searching nearby blood banks, labs, hospitals, health service providers etc. It also supports services available at Health Portals like CoWIN, eSanjeevaniOPD etc.

Overall ownership of the health data remains with the citizen and Aarogya Setu application follows privacy and consent-based information sharing as a guiding principle. The aggregate and anonymous data collected in the application can be utilized by the Government for analysis and monitoring of healthcare programs to aid policy decisions in consonance with the applicable law of the land.

1. INFORMATION COLLECTED AND MANNER OF COLLECTION

Consent based Registration At registration, users are requested to provide the consent for utilizing their aggregated & anonymous data for supporting national health programs and public policies.
A one-time consent for the terms of this Privacy Policy is taken from the user.

When you register on the App, the following information is collected from you and stored securely on a server operated and managed by the Government:

(i) Name
(Ii) Phone Number
(Iii) Age
(Iv) Sex
(V) Profession
CoWIN User activities like Registration on CoWIN for generating Beneficiary ID, Scheduling / Cancellation / Rescheduling Appointment, Deletion of Beneficiary, correction in certificate, raising any issue, downloading certificate etc. would be governed by the privacy policy and other relevant notifications released and published at CoWIN portal from time to time. Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) Number

  1. Under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), Government of India has proposed ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) Address as a unique identifier (self-declared username) that enables you to share and access your health records digitally. ABHA number is a 14-digit number that will uniquely identify you as a participant in India’s digital healthcare ecosystem. The strong, secure and trustable ABHA number will be accepted by healthcare providers and payers across the country.
  2. You can use your ABHA number to seamlessly sign up for an ABHA address in order to maintain longitudinal health records and share the health records. You can participate at your own free will and choose to create your ABHA number voluntarily. Also, at any time, you can also request for permanent deletion or temporary deactivation of your ABHA number.
  3. If you opt for creation of Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) through Aarogya Setu, the App shall seek your consent to collect your name, age, date of birth, gender, mobile number and Aadhar number for the purpose of creation of the ABHA. The registration for ABHA is voluntary in nature and the data shall only be collected & processed with your consent.
  4. The App shall facilitate the verification of your identity using your Aadhaar Number which will only be used for the purpose of the creation of your ABHA. Your Aadhaar number shall not be stored by the App.
  5. The App will make it possible for you to download and cache your ABHA. You will need to grant the App media access permission on your device in order to avail this facility.
  6. A valid Aarogya Setu user having ABHA Number will be able to create ABHA number and ABHA address for others in assisted mode.

Creation of Longitudinal health record

  1. The ABHA will facilitate the user to link his/her health record with the ABHA account, thus creating a single point for viewing/accessing/deleting the health data as per user’s convenience.
  2. The linking of ABHA ID will facilitate creation of longitudinal health record of the user which supports accurate diagnosis, precision medicine, increased quality of care, timely response in emergency, lower out of pocket expenses and overall continuum of care across the health spectrum.
  3. All above mentioned ABHA related activities would be governed by the Health Data Management Policy and privacy policies and other relevant notifications released and published by ABDM) from time to time.

Outcomes for Citizen The Aarogya Setu will provide equitable access and availability of multiple healthcare services to citizens. Citizen will be able to generate ABHA ID which can be linked to the health data of the citizen. The linking of ABHA ID will facilitate creation of longitudinal health record of the user which supports accurate diagnosis, precision medicine, increased quality of care, timely response in emergency, lower out of pocket expenses and overall continuum of care across the health spectrum.

The user will be facilitated to book online appointment in health facilities easing registration process, can avail tele-consultation services with medical professionals and specialists from their mobile phones and can get information about government healthcare services. The storage services are provisioned through secured DigiLocker and consent-based framework under this application.

Timely sharing of health record by citizen with medical professionals will support informed clinical decisions further reducing dependency on repeat diagnostics and ensures customized and quality care to patients. With utilization of Telemedicine and remote healthcare interventions, the continuity of treatment to patient can be ensured limiting the repeated visits to health facility by citizen. eSanjeevaniOPD User activities like Registration on eSanjeevani Portal for generating Patient ID, Token Generation, Token Cancellation, downloading ePrescription etc. would be governed by the privacy policy and other relevant notifications released and published at eSanjeevaniOPD portal from time to time.

2. USE OF INFORMATION

  1. The personal information collected from you at the time of registration, will be stored on Government of India approved ICT Infrastructure and shall be used by the Government of India in anonymized, aggregated datasets for the purpose of generating reports, heat maps, statistical visualizations and for supporting overall healthcare services by Government of India.
  2. The information collected for ABHA generation shall be used for the sole purpose of facilitating the creation of your ABHA, download and caching of ABHA only. The ABHA will be linked with the health services availed by user through this app to create the longitudinal health record of the patients.
  3. The Information collected from the Users shall be used for providing health related services to the user based on user’s consent.

3. RETENTION

  1. All information collected at the time of registration will be retained for as long as your account remains in existence.
  2. Nothing set out herein shall apply to the anonymized, aggregated datasets or any reports, heat maps or other visualization created using such datasets.
  3. The data related to ABHA would be governed by the relevant notifications released and published by ABDM (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission) from time to time.

4. DEVICE PERMISSION

To provide various features and functionalities, the Aarogya Setu app requires the following permissions on your device:

  1. Camera: For scanning QR Codes, documents, Face Authentication etc. as required
  2. Location: GPS Location data for showing location specific health information including nearby labs, blood banks, health service providers etc.
  3. Read and Write in Device Storage (including External Storage): Upload/Download of Files or Images related to health record for linking with ABHA

5. RIGHTS

As a registered user, you have the right to access your profile at any time and to add, modify or remove any information as applicable. The users will receive notifications as per the notification policy set by users in their mobile phone.

6. DATA SECURITY

The App is equipped with standard security features to protect the confidentiality and security of your information. Data is encrypted in transit as well as at rest. Personal information provided at the time of registration is encrypted before being uploaded to the server, where it is stored in an encrypted format.

7. DISCLOSURES AND TRANSFER

Users can share their health-related information and health status with the practitioner/doctors or anyone duly following the consent framework.

8. GRIEVANCES

For any concerns or questions in relation to this Privacy Policy, you may address the same to:
Sh. Kiran Gopal Vaska,
Director, ABDM
Email: support[dot]aarogyasetu[at]gov[dot]in