The government has announced two major initiatives in the health sector as part of Ayushman Bharat programme. They are Health and Wellness Centre and National Health Protection Scheme.

Ayushman Bharat

• In the Union Budget 2018-19 speech the Hon ble Finance Minister had stated that the programme is aimed at making path-breaking interventions to address health holistically, in the primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both prevention and health promotion .
• Funding for healthcare has always been a major challenge in India. India is still struggling to provide good healthcare delivery services to its population even after seven decades of independence. Hence, the government has come up with this programme which will subsume Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) under National Health Protection Scheme part of Ayushman Bharat.

Health and Wellness Centre

The National Health Policy, 2017 has contemplated Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India s health system. It is expected to set up 1.5 lakh such centres which will bring health care system closer to the homes of people. These centres have been mandated to provide comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health (MCH) services. Free essential drugs and diagnostic services will also be provided by these centres. The Union Budget 2018-19 has allocated Rs.1200 crore for this flagship programme. The contribution of the private sector through CSR and philanthropic institutions in adopting these centres is also envisaged.

National Health Protection Scheme

National Health Protection Scheme will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries). It will provide coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. This will be the world s largest government-funded health care programme. Funds inadequate amount will be provided for smooth implementation of this programme.

Significance

• This pushes India towards the goal of universal health coverage and building a healthy India. It will contribute towards building a productive workforce and hence India can utilize its demographic dividend in a better way. It will help in building a New India by 2022.
• The scheme involves engagement with the state governments. It will be delivered by the states and hence there is a need to develop positive coordination between the central government and different state governments.
• These schemes will help in generation of lakhs of jobs, particularly for women.
• The scheme would create huge awareness of health insurance increasing the life expectancy of people.
• It will help in qualitative upgradation of existing hospitals in the country.
• Access to tertiary healthcare in India has always been a challenge as it is faced with problems regarding infrastructure as well as qualified medical professionals, especially in rural areas. The government plans to open one medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies. It is a welcome step as it will help in dealing with the challenge related to the availability of healthcare professionals in hospitals by bridging the demand-supply gap apart from improvement in healthcare related infrastructure.

Way Forward

The scheme can prove to be a milestone as far as the improvement in healthcare-related facilities in India is concerned. However, the challenge of governance and implementation must be dealt with dexterity by the government. It is high time the government explored the possibility of adoption of technology by the entire healthcare ecosystem. The time has come to utilize the benefits of telemedicine. The central government needs to address the critical funding issue and coordinate effectively with the state governments.

Because of the huge population load, the public healthcare system is over-burdened and is facing capacity crunch. There are also problems related to huge financing needs of the public healthcare system. Hence, the government can explore the public-private partnership (PPP) model in the health sector. Besides, an appropriate policy framework needs to be devised for private hospitals to provide affordable healthcare to below poverty line (BPL) people.