Health Ministry Launches Drug Registry to Standardise Medicine Data

New Delhi: With an aim to establish a standardised repository of drug data that can support informed clinical decision-making while reducing the scope for misrepresentation of medicines, the Union Health Ministry has introduced a National Drug Registry to consolidate medicine-related information into a unified digital platform.

ET reported that developed under the Government of India's flagship Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the registry is intended to function as a single, authoritative source of medicine information in the country, enabling uniform identification, storage, exchange, and use of drug data across the healthcare ecosystem.

Built using internationally recognised standards such as SNOMED CT, the platform is designed to ensure interoperability and semantic consistency while integrating seamlessly with Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS), e-prescription platforms, doctor-facing applications, and other ABDM-compliant digital health solutions.

According to a news report by ET, the National Drug Registry allows users to search medicines using generic names, brand names, active pharmaceutical ingredients, or manufacturers.

The database currently contains information on more than 123,000 branded medicines, over 10,000 generic drugs, and nearly 29,000 drug substances.

The platform was officially launched by Union Health Minister JP Nadda during the 16th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW). It has been developed jointly by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the National Resource Centre for EHR Standards (NRCeS), Pune.