On Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha was informed that the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) facilitated secure data exchange between intended stakeholders after getting the patient′s consent. They were informed that no patient data was shared with any other entity, including insurance and pharmaceutical firms, without the individual′s consent.

The Union Health Minister, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, stated that the Health Data Management (HDM) policy is a guidance document that sets out the minimum standards for privacy and data protection that should be followed by all the participants and stakeholders in the ABDM ecosystem. He added that "Privacy by Design" is one of the key guiding principles of ABDM, which was implemented following the principles of federated digital architecture.

Hence, there is no centralized repository of data. He went on to say that the HDM policy imposes various restrictions on the sharing of health data to ensure that privacy and data protection principles are followed at all times while sharing health data.

Additionally, health information users are now subject to a purpose-based restriction on data sharing. According to the restrictions, the data given by the data principal (the person) will not be kept for any longer than is required for the purposes stated when getting the person′s prior agreement. Also, the principle of data minimization will have to be adhered to by the entity that has received the shared data. 

(Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/national/patients-health-data-is-not-shared-with-insurance-pharma-firms-without-consent-government-news-246627 )