India is at an important moment in its public health journey. As our economy, aspirations and life expectancy grow, we must ensure that our people live longer, healthier and more productive lives. Non-communicable diseases—such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases—pose a serious challenge because they often develop silently, require sustained care and can affect not only individuals but entire families.
Yet this challenge is also an opportunity. Many NCDs are preventable or can be detected early. With the right combination of healthy choices, community-based services, screening, affordable treatment and continuity of care, we can prevent avoidable suffering and reduce premature deaths. This is the central direction of the Union government’s response.
From illness-centred care to a continuum of care
The government’s approach is anchored in the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases. It covers the full continuum—from health promotion and prevention to population-based screening, early diagnosis, treatment, referral, rehabilitation, palliative care and long-term follow-up.
This approach rests on a simple principle: the health system must not wait for people to become seriously ill before it reaches them. It must identify risks early, bring services closer to communities and support people throughout their lives.
▶ Promoting healthier lifestyles, physical activity, balanced diets, tobacco cessation, reduction of alcohol and mental wellbeing
▶ Screening and early detection of hypertension, diabetes and common cancers
▶ Comprehensive primary health care through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs
▶ Accessible and affordable medicines, diagnostics, treatment and referral services
▶ Continuity and quality of care for people living with chronic conditions
▶ Digital health, surveillance and accountability to improve tracking and programme performance.
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs: bringing prevention to the doorstep
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs are central to this transformation. They bring comprehensive primary health care closer to households and provide a platform for health promotion, counselling, screening, treatment and follow-up.
Through these centres, people can receive advice on diet, exercise, tobacco, alcohol, obesity and other risk factors. Eligible populations can be screened for hypertension, diabetes and common cancers, including oral, breast and cervical cancers, in accordance with programme guidelines. Those requiring further evaluation or treatment can be linked to higher facilities.
A person with high blood pressure or raised blood glucose may feel completely well. Early identification creates an opportunity to initiate treatment, support adherence and prevent complications involving the heart, brain, kidneys, eyes and feet.
Prevention must become a people’s movement
Government programmes can create the platform, but prevention succeeds only when citizens, families, communities, schools, workplaces, civil-society organisations and local institutions participate. The Hon’ble Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasised fitness, healthy lifestyle and collective action, including reducing excessive consumption of sugar and oil.
A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is essential. Food systems, education, urban planning, transport, workplaces, media and local governance all shape health. NCD prevention must therefore become part of how we design our cities, schools, workplaces and public services.
Reducing the financial burden of chronic disease
NCDs can impose costs through diagnostics, medicines, hospitalisation, travel, loss of wages, disability and long-term care. The government is addressing this burden at multiple levels: prevention and early detection; services closer to communities; essential medicines and diagnostics; strengthened District NCD Clinics, cancer services and referral pathways and financial protection through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY.
Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY provides eligible families access to cashless secondary and tertiary hospitalisation in the empanelled network. Ayushman Vay Vandana extends health coverage to senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of socio-economic status. Together, these measures seek to protect families from catastrophic expenditure and ensure that illness does not become a cause of poverty.
Financial protection is meaningful only when medicines, diagnostics, trained personnel and treatment are actually available. Our objective is therefore not simply to finance hospitalisation, but to reduce avoidable hospitalisation and ensure regular, affordable and dignified chronic care.
Making health checks routine
Many NCDs are silent, and waiting for symptoms can mean waiting too long. The policy direction is to make screening and risk assessment a routine part of primary health care.
This requires three linked actions: making screening available close to people; actively mobilising eligible populations through frontline workers and community platforms; and ensuring that every positive finding leads to confirmation, counselling, treatment, referral and follow-up. Screening without a care pathway is not enough.
A health check should not be seen as a declaration of illness. It is an opportunity to protect one’s future. Workplaces, educational institutions, local bodies, self-help groups and civil society organisations can help make preventive care convenient and socially normal.
Integrated care for interconnected diseases
NCDs should not be managed in isolation. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidaemia, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular risk frequently coexist. A person may also develop complications involving the eyes, kidneys, heart, brain or feet.
The government is moving towards integrated, risk-based care supported by national and programme-level guidelines, standard treatment protocols, essential medicine lists, referral pathways and training materials.
Standardisation provides a common evidence-based framework, while allowing clinicians to account for individual patient needs and states to adapt implementation to local capacity.
The objective is not merely to prescribe a protocol. It is to achieve better disease control, fewer complications, improved quality of life and reduced premature mortality.
A commitment to Viksit Bharat@2047
A developed India must also be a healthy India. Prevention and control of NCDs is therefore not only a health-sector priority, it is an investment in human capital, productivity, family welfare and national development. As India moves towards Viksit Bharat@2047, our success will be measured not only by hospitals built or services delivered, but by healthier children, healthier adults, healthier senior citizens and fewer families pushed into distress by preventable disease.
A healthier India is the foundation of a developed India.
Patel is Union minister of state for health and family welfare.
