“The Government is committed to the attainment of highest possible levels of health and wellbeing for all its citizens and providing “Healthcare for All.” This was stated by Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare at the 15th India Health Summit, an annual flagship event on healthcare, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), at New Delhi recently. The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Indian Healthcare – Changing Paradigm.’ At the function, Anupriya Patel also released a report, ‘Creating the New Ecosystems to Provide Healthcare.’

Anupriya further stated that one of the biggest policy initiatives was the release of National Health Policy, 2017 after a gap of fifteen long years which paves the way for Universal Health Coverage and reduction of out-of-pocket expenses. She said that the other policy achievements in the past four years include the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and HIV/AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act 2017, MCI Ordinance.

Highlighting other achievements of the Ministry, Anupriya further said the Government’s new schemes and programs have contributed to changing the health scenario of the country. She added that Mission Indradhanush yielded very encouraging results which has made us set our target date of bringing 90% full immunization rate in the country to 2018, much before the target date of 2020. Five new vaccines have been added to India’s Universal Immunization Program, bringing the total to twelve, she said. The Minister further informed that the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme is providing free dialysis services to the poor in the district hospitals in PPP mode and AMRIT Pharmacies provide drugs and implants for cancer patients and cardiovascular diseases at 60 to 90% discount than the prevailing market rates.

Speaking further on Ayushman Bharat, Anupriya Patel said that it is a step towards fulfilling the vision of National Health Policy, 2017 and adopts a continuum of care approach through it two pillars. The 1stpillar being Health and Wellness Centre aimed at bringing healthcare to the homes of people and under it 1.5 lakh subcentres and primary healthcare Centres across the country would be transformed into Health and Wellness Centres, she added.

Anurpiya further elaborated that the 2ndpillar is Ayushman Bharat- PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PMJAY) that provides insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs per annum for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to more than 10 crorepoor and vulnerable families across the country. This is a holistic initiative in the public health sector aimed at fixing the current fragmented and inequitable healthcare system of providing continuum of care covering primary, secondary and tertiary aspects of healthcare along with financial risk protection to the poor. “Ayushman Bharat is being implemented at unprecedented scale to build new India by 2022 and will bring paradigm shift in India’s healthcare sector. This holistic and comprehensive approach towards healthcare will definitely achieve the goal of “Health for all’’, she mentioned.