PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission launched to fill gaps in healthcare system: Govt

The government launched the PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission on October 25 this year to fill the gaps in the healthcare system based on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

The mission aims to develop the capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care health systems, strengthen existing national institutions and create new institutions to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written response to a question in the Upper House of Parliament.

She was responding to a question on whether the government has made any review of the present healthcare system in view of the weaknesses exposed during the pandemic.

In addition to the Prime Minister-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) was launched by the government on September 27 with the aim to make healthcare more accessible for citizens and enable greater efficiencies for healthcare quality and continuity of treatment, Pawar said.

The National Health Policy (NHP), 2017 envisages raising public health expenditure to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2025, Pawar said, adding that according to the latest National Health Account Estimates (2017-18), the share of government health expenditure in total GDP has increased from 1.15 percent in 2013-14 to 1.35 percent in 2017-18.

Providing details of the action taken to ensure mandatory health coverage for all, Pawar said the NHP advocates progressively achieving universal health coverage by assuring availability of free, comprehensive primary health care services and continuum of care for all aspects of reproductive, maternal, child, and adolescent health and for the most prevalent communicable, non-communicable and occupational diseases in the population.

To meet these objectives, the primary, secondary, and tertiary health care systems are being strengthened through the four pillars of PM-Ayushman Bharat -- PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWC), National Digital Health Mission, and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).

With the objective of delivering comprehensive primary health care closer to the homes of people, 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers (HWCs) are being set up. More than 80,143 HWCs are functional as of November 21, she stated.

PMJAY is the largest health assurance scheme providing a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per year for secondary and tertiary care to approximately 50 crore beneficiaries from poor and vulnerable families. Besides, technical and financial support is provided to states and union territories under the National Health Mission for strengthening healthcare systems, Pawar said.

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