Govt committed to provide 'Health For All': Patel

Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel Thursday said the government was committed to attain the highest possible levels of health and wellbeing for all its citizens by providing 'Health For All'.

Addressing the 15th India Health Summit, an annual flagship event on healthcare organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Patel said that one of the biggest policy initiatives was the release of the National Health Policy, 2017 after a gap of 15 years which paves the way for universal health coverage and reduction of out-of-pocket expenses.

'Health For All' is a programming goal of the World Health Organisation, which envisions securing the health and wellbeing of people.

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 and the MCI Ordinance.

Speaking on Ayushman Bharat scheme, Patel said that it was a step towards fulfilling the vision of the National Health Policy, 2017 and adopts a continuum of care approach through its two pillars.

The first pillar being health and wellness centre aimed at bringing healthcare to the homes of people and the 2nd pillar is Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) that will provide insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs per annum for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to more than 10 crore poor 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 said.

Patel also highlighted other achievements of the ministry.

"Mission Indradhanush yielded very encouraging results which has made us set our target date of bringing 90 per cent full immunisation rate in the country this year, much before the target date of 2020.

"Five new vaccines have been added to India's Universal Immunisation Programme, bringing the total to 12," 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 per cent discount than the prevailing market rates.