The
Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in its
meeting on 15.3.2017, has approved the National Health Policy, 2017
(NHP, 2017). The Policy seeks to reach everyone in a comprehensive
integrated way to move towards wellness. It aims at achieving universal
health coverage and delivering quality health care services to all at
affordable cost.
This Policy looks at problems and
solutions holistically with private sector as strategic partners. It
seeks to promote quality of care, focus is on emerging diseases and
investment in promotive and preventive healthcare. The policy is patient
centric and quality driven. It addresses health security and make in
India for drugs and devices.
The main objective of the National
Health Policy 2017 is to achieve the highest possible level of good
health and well-being, through a preventive and promotive health care
orientation in all developmental policies, and to achieve universal
access to good quality health care services without anyone having to
face financial hardship as a consequence.
In order to provide access and financial
protection at secondary and tertiary care levels, the policy proposes
free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency care services in all
public hospitals.
The policy envisages strategic purchase
of secondary and tertiary care services as a short term measure to
supplement and fill critical gaps in the health system.
The Policy recommends prioritizing the
role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions.
The roadmap of this new policy is predicated on public spending and
provisioning of a public healthcare system that is comprehensive,
integrated and accessible to all.
The NHP, 2017 advocates a positive and
proactive engagement with the private sector for critical gap filling
towards achieving national goals. It envisages private sector
collaboration for strategic purchasing, capacity building, skill
development programmes, awareness generation, developing sustainable
networks for community to strengthen mental health services, and
disaster management. The policy also advocates financial and
non-incentives for encouraging the private sector participation.
The policy proposes raising public
health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP in a time bound manner. Policy
envisages providing larger package of assured comprehensive primary
health care through the Health and Wellness Centers'. This policy
denotes important change from very selective to comprehensive primary
health care package which includes geriatric health care, palliative
care and rehabilitative care services. The policy advocates allocating
major proportion (upto two-thirds or more) of resources to primary care
followed by secondary and tertiary care. The policy aspires to provide
at the district level most of the secondary care which is currently
provided at a medical college hospital.
The policy assigns specific quantitative
targets aimed at reduction of disease prevalence/incidence, for health
status and programme impact, health system performance and system
strengthening. It seeks to strengthen the health, surveillance system
and establish registries for diseases of public health importance, by
2020. It also seeks to align other policies for medical devices and
equipment with public health goals.
The primary aim of the National Health
Policy, 2017, is to inform, clarify, strengthen and prioritize the role
of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions-
investment in health, organization and financing of healthcare services,
prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross
sectoral action, access to technologies, developing human resources,
encouraging medical pluralism, building the knowledge base required for
better health, financial protection strategies and regulation and
progressive assurance for health. The policy emphasizes reorienting and
strengthening the Public Health Institutions across the country, so as
to provide universal access to free drugs, diagnostics and other
essential healthcare.
The broad principles of the policy is
centered on Professionalism, Integrity and Ethics, Equity,
Affordability, Universality, Patient Centered & Quality of Care,
Accountability and pluralism.
It seeks to ensure improved access and
affordability of quality secondary and tertiary care services through a
combination of public hospitals and strategic purchasing in healthcare
deficit areas from accredited non-governmental healthcare providers,
achieve significant reduction in out of pocket expenditure due to
healthcare costs, reinforce trust in public healthcare system and
influence operation and growth of private healthcare industry as well as
medical technologies in alignment with public health goals.
The policy affirms commitment to
pre-emptive care (aimed at pre-empting the occurrence of diseases) to
achieve optimum levels of child and adolescent health. The policy
envisages school health programmes as a major focus area as also health
and hygiene being made a part of the school curriculum.
In order to leverage the pluralistic
health care legacy, the policy recommends mainstreaming the different
health systems. Towards mainstreaming the potential of AYUSH the policy
envisages better access to AYUSH remedies through co-location in public
facilities. Yoga would also be introduced much more widely in school and
work places as part of promotion of good health.
The policy supports voluntary service in
rural and under-served areas on pro-bono basis by recognized healthcare
professionals under a 'giving back to society’ initiative.
The policy advocates extensive
deployment of digital tools for improving the efficiency and outcome of
the healthcare system and proposes establishment of National Digital
Health Authority (NDHA) to regulate, develop and deploy digital health
across the continuum of care.
The policy advocates a progressively incremental assurance based approach.
Background:
The National Health Policy, 2017 adopted
an elaborate procedure for its formulation involving stakeholder
consultations. Accordingly, the Government of India formulated the Draft
National Health Policy and placed it in public domain on 30th
December, 2014. Thereafter following detailed consultations with the
stakeholders and State Governments, based on the suggestions received,
the Draft National Health Policy was further fine-tuned. It received the
endorsement of the Central Council for Health & Family Welfare, the
apex policy making body, in its Twelfth Conference held on 27th February, 2016.
The last health policy was formulated in
2002. The socio economic and epidemiological changes since then
necessitated the formulation of a New National Health Policy to address
the current and emerging challenges.
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