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(GIST OF YOJANA) Healthcare

[August-2021]

Healthcare

Context:

India is known as the “World’s Pharmacy” as it is the largest producer of generic medicines accounting for 20 percent of global production and also manufactures more than 60 percent of all vaccines sold across the globe.
India is the world’s second-largest exporter of Ayurvedic & Alternative Medicines with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CACTR) of 22% during 2015-20 in the healthcare sector. India had launched the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive in January 2021 and has supplied millions of doses to various countries. Till now, around 38 crore people have been vaccinated in India and 342 crore people globally.

India is at the forefront in fighting against Covid-19 under the leadership of the Prime Minister. The immediate steps taken by him post the pandemic in 2020 are:

Ensured timely lockdown and saved lakhs of lives.
Creation of extensive support system through setting up of COVID-19 warriors’ network and a national taskforce.
Aatmanirbhar Bharat economic stimulus relief package of 20 lakh crore amounting to 10% of GDP.
80 crore people being given free food grains under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.
20 crore women Jan Dhan holders being given ?500 per month for three months.
MGNREGA wage rate was increased to Rs. 202 per person per day and is benefiting 13.62 crore families.
Support to Indian vaccine manufacturing companies.

National Digital Health Mission (NDHM):

It was launched by the PM on India’s 74th Independence Day in August 2020. It is being implemented by National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Gol. The plan is to create a digital health ecosystem for India featuring health ID, personal health records, Digi Doctor, and health facility registry. E-pharmacy and telemedicine services are planned to be included later.
NDHM syncs with Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme launched by PM in 2018 through the recommendation by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by covering 50 crore beneficiaries. Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme.

Way forward:

India offers affordable healthcare services for all and is a famous destination for medical tourism. It is estimated to be worth 5 to 6 billion USD with over 500,000 patient visits annually.
Chennai city of Tamil Nadu state has famous Multi and super-specialty hospitals with the inflow of the greatest number of international patients. India offers a smooth process for the issue of medical visas and provides the best healthcare facilities, frontier technologies, finest doctors, financial savings with the lowest waiting time.
The Indian government had launched a single-window portal in 2017 to promote medical and wellness tourism in the country.