Modi's health policy 2.0: Focus on Ayushman Bharat

The focus here is the Centre's health insurance scheme, PMJAY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters after the election results at BJP headquarters in New Delhi | Reuters Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters after the election results at BJP headquarters in New Delhi | Reuters

On the evening of May 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory speech mentioned the health of the country's poor, among other issues. His victory, he said, was not his, but that of the beemar vyakti (ailing citizen), who was unable to afford treatment for several years, and has been able to do so under his [Modi's] regime. The focus here is the Centre's health insurance scheme, PMJAY.

The health scheme, called Ayushman Bharat, was launched as a pre-poll bonanza in the last budget and has two components—the first promises a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care procedures for 50 crore people, and the second involves setting up of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres across the country. Even as the health insurance scheme, called PMJAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana), is being implemented across the country (except in Delhi, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal), there are challenges before the new government. They have to iron out the issues of pricing of treatment packages, and ensuring smooth implementation on the ground.  

According to the Union health ministry, more than 17,000 centres are operational, and in the coming year (2019-2020), the ministry will be looking at an ambitious target of upgrading an additional 25,000 centres, an official had told THE WEEK on a previous occassion. Addressing shortages of trained health workers at these centres and upgrading the infrastructure would be crucial challenges for the government—both at the state and the centre.

For the new government, the National Medical Council Bill would also be a priority, considered to be an unfinished agenda from its previous term. In its last term, the government could not manage to pass the draft law, despite having the required numbers in the Lok Sabha. The bill, that was introduced in the Parliament in December 2017, went through several amendments following protests from an influential section of doctors from the Indian Medical Association. Subsequently, a few amendments were made in the draft legislation in 2018, but the bill did not come up for discussion in Parliament. With a fresh, and much stronger mandate that the NDA has got in the 2019 polls, the Bill would be high on its agenda.

The Union health ministry would also be looking at achieving targets for elimination of several diseases such as malaria (2030) and tuberculosis (2025), besides strengthening screening measures to reduce the rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.  

Besides, the new government would also be looking at reducing drug prices by evolving a formula to cap trade margins. To that effect, a start has been made, with the government capping the trade margin at 30 per cent in the case of 42 non-scheduled cancer drugs in March.