Privacy Policy - eKavach Application

eKavach App is a Govt of Uttar Pradesh Initiative launched for use by health functionaries in the state for managing their public health work. The application has been developed by Argusoft India Ltd based on their mPHM platform. This SERVICE is provided by the Department of Health, Govt of Uttar Pradesh and is intended for use as is.

This page is used to inform website visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service.

If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this policy. The Personal Information that we collect is used for providing and improving the Service. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

The application is used by the Health Workers to capture information about the health status of citizens and the services provided to them as part of various government sponsored programs. The data such collected is stored securely in the Uttar Pradesh State Data Center and is bound by the provisions of various government acts including the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019. The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, which is accessible at https://ekavach.upnrhm.gov.in unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy.

Data Retention, Storage Period & Deletion Rights

✓ Important Notice Regarding Citizen Data Collection:
eKavach App does NOT collect any personal information from citizens directly without their explicit consent. All citizen health data is recorded by authorized government health functionaries during official public health programs. Citizens are informed about the purpose of data collection at the time of recording, and their voluntary participation is obtained. No citizen is required to provide personal information against their will. If a citizen wishes to withdraw consent or request deletion of their information, they may follow the deletion request process outlined below.

1. How long we keep your data (Retention Period):
We retain the personal information and health records collected through the eKavach App for as long as necessary to fulfill the official public health objectives of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Specifically:

  • Active health functionary records are retained throughout the period of your official employment or service engagement with the state health department.
  • Citizen health data collected for government programs is retained in accordance with the data retention schedules prescribed under the Uttar Pradesh Health Records Rules and the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (as applicable) and other relevant state/central government health data regulations.
  • Log data and diagnostic information may be retained for a period of 24 months from the date of collection to support system improvements, debugging, and security audits.
  • In the absence of a specific statutory requirement, data is retained for a maximum period of 7 years from the last interaction or as mandated by applicable public health record laws, after which it is securely anonymized or deleted.

2. How you can request deletion of your data:
We respect your right to control your personal information. If you are a health functionary or a citizen whose data has been recorded in the eKavach App, you may request the deletion of your personal data under the following circumstances:

  • You are a registered health worker who has left the service or no longer requires access to the application.
  • You are a citizen and believe that your personal health information was recorded in error or without proper consent.
  • You wish to withdraw consent for processing of your personal data where no legal obligation exists to retain it.

To request data deletion, please follow any of these methods:

  • Email request: Send a formal request to nhmup.app@gmail.com with the subject line "DATA DELETION REQUEST". Please include your full name, registered mobile number, and a brief reason for the deletion request. You will receive a confirmation within 15 business days.
  • Postal request: Write to the Data Protection Officer at the address provided in the "Contact Us" section below.

3. How we process deletion requests:
Upon receiving a verified deletion request, we will:

  • Acknowledge receipt of your request within 7 business days.
  • Verify your identity to prevent unauthorized deletion of data.
  • Permanently delete or irreversibly anonymize your personal information from our active systems and backups, subject to any legal or regulatory retention obligations (e.g., ongoing legal proceedings, statutory health record keeping requirements).
  • Notify you once the deletion process is complete. If we cannot delete certain data due to legal obligations, we will inform you of the specific reasons and the applicable retention period.

4. Automatic deletion & user-initiated deletion:
eKavach does not currently support automated account deletion from within the app for administrative reasons. However, any health functionary who is no longer active in the system will have their access revoked, and their personal data will be scheduled for deletion after a grace period of 90 days from the date of employment separation, unless otherwise required by law. Citizens' data recorded as part of public health programs is not directly deletable by individual users to maintain data integrity of government health records, but you may request correction or contest inaccurate information using the contact details below.

Important note for citizens: If you believe your health information was recorded without proper authorization, please contact us immediately. We will investigate and take corrective action including deletion where appropriate and legally permissible.

Information Collection and Use

For a better experience, while using our Service, we may require you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information. The information that we request is will be retained by us and used as described in this privacy policy.

Log Data

We want to inform you that whenever you use our Service, in a case of an error in the app we collect data and information (through third party products) on your phone called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your device Internet Protocol ("IP") address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the app when utilizing our Service, the time and date of your use of the Service, and other statistics. Such information maybe used to improve the service, debug and provide bug fixes.

Cookies

Cookies are files with small amount of data that is commonly used an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your device internal memory.

This Service does not use these cookies explicitly. However, the app may use third party code and libraries that use cookies to collection information and to improve their services. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies and know when a cookie is being sent to your device. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of this Service.

Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

  • To facilitate our Service,
  • To provide the Service on our behalf,
  • To perform Service-related services, or
  • To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

We want to inform users of this Service that these third parties have access to your Personal Information on a 'need to know' basis and are bound by the provisions of this privacy policy. Including the policy of not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose that which has been stated explicitly.

Security

We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to Other Sites

This Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Children's Privacy

These Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. However the users of this app, i.e the Health Functionaries using the app may need to capture and record details about children as part of their designated job descriptions. In such cases, parental or guardian consent is obtained prior to recording any child's information.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, or to exercise your data deletion rights, please contact us at:

  • Email: nhmup.app@gmail.com
  • Address: National Health Mission, State Programme Management Unit. 16, A.P. Sen Road, Charbagh, Lucknow-226001