Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had two Departments, Each of these Departments was headed by the Secretary to the Government of India:-
National Health Policy
The National Health Policy (NHP) was released in 2017. One of the mandates of the NHP 2017, is the use of information technology towards healthcare. In line with that the IT initiatives of the Ministry are listed here:
- National Health Portal (NHP) is functioning as citizen portal for healthcare providing health related information to citizens and stakeholders.
- Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) / Reproductive Child Health (RCH) application is an individual-based tracking system across all the states & UTs to facilitate timely delivery of antenatal and postnatal care services.
- Kilkari application was launched to deliver free weekly audio messages about pregnancy, childbirth and care.
- TB Patient Monitoring System “Nikshay” for tracking of individuals for treatment-adherence has been implemented across all states.
- SUGAM by Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) enables online submission of applications, their tracking, processing & grant of approvals online mainly for drugs, clinical trials.
Initiates
National Health Mission
- National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) became two sub-missions under the overarching NHM.
- The main programmatic components include health system strengthening in rural and urban areas, Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) interventions and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
- Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 to cover all those children who have been partially vaccinated or not vaccinated during routine immunization rounds. The objective of the schemes is to increase full immunization coverage to at least 90 per cent of children by 2020.
- Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE) is defined as less than one neonatal tetanus case per 1,000 live birth in every district per annum. India has been validated for Maternal and Neonatal tetanus elimination in May 2015.
- India New Born Action Plan was launched in 2014 with the goal of attaining “Single Digit Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) by 2030” and “Single Digit Still Birth rate (SBR) by 2030”.
- “MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection” which is an intensified programme was launched in 2016 in an attempt to bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding.
- Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight is a programme to combat diarrhoeal mortality in children with the ultimate aim of zero child deaths due to childhood diarrhea.
- To combat Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infections, the Ministry has adopted a single day strategy called National Deworming Day (NDD) wherein single dose of albendazole is administered to children from 1-19 years of age group schools and anganwadi centres.
- Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram was launched in 2013 entails provision for Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services through early detection and management of 4 Ds i.e. defects at birth, diseases, deficiencies, development delays.
- The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) was launched to provide information, commodities and services to meet the diverse needs of adolescents.
- Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) scheme entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including caesarean section.
- Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission. The objective is to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.
- Initiated in 1952, the Family Planning programme was the first of its kind of national level programme with a focus on population stabilization. The National Population Policy 2000 redefined it as a medium of intervention for promoting reproductive and child health.
- Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan aims to provide assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free of cost, universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month.
- Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlets have been put in place to provide drugs for cancer and cardiovascular diseases along with cardiac implants.
- Kayakalp awards were launched to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health facilities.
- National Organ Transplant Programme was launched for carrying out the activities as per Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994. Under this, an apex level organization, National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) was set up at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.
- Swachh Swasth Sarvatra is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation launched in 2016.
- National Leprosy Eradication Programme: Its objective is to achieve elimination of leprosy as a public health problem in all states and districts i.e., reduce annual new case detection Ratio to < 1 per 100,000 populations at national level.
- Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) a new centrally sponsored scheme was launched in 2018. This comes under Ayushman Bharat Mission anchored in the MoHFW. The Scheme has the benefit cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year.
- The target beneficiaries are to be more than 10 crore families belonging to poor and vulnerable population based on Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) database.
- With this, AB-NHPM will subsume the ongoing centrally sponsored schemes–Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).
HIV and AIDS
- HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 aims to end the epidemic by 2030.
- National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) is the nodal organisation for National AIDS response in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- National AIDS Control Programme is a fully funded central sector scheme. Currently, National AIDS Control programme (NACP)-IV (extension) is under implementation for the period 2017-20
Medical Education
- The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) envisages creation of tertiary healthcare capacity in medical education. PMSSY has two components:
- Setting up of new AIIMS like institutes in underserved regions of the country and
- Upgrade of existing Govt Medical Colleges (GMCs).
- A uniform entrance examination for admission to Undergraduate and Post Graduate medical courses in the country viz. National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) has been introduced from the Academic Year 2016-17.
- The Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research is a pioneering initiative by AIIMS, New Delhi.
Food Regulation
- Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 was enacted with the objective to consolidate the laws relating to food and for laying down science based standards for articles of food.
- The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established in 2008.
Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi
- Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) was set up in 1997 to provide financial assistance to the patients living below poverty line, who are suffering from major life-threatening diseases, to receive medical treatment at Government hospitals.
- Under the scheme central government also provides grant-in-aid to states/union territories (with legislature) to set up State Illness Assistance Fund (SIAF) to the extent of 50 per cent of contribution made by state government/union territories.
Indian Council of Medical Research
- As one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was established in 1911 as the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA).
- ICMR initiated a new flagship programme to establish India TB research and development consortium that aims to bring together all major national players (with international collaborators) to address overarching scientific questions to tackle TB in a mission mode.
- Truenat Rif, an indigenous, cost-effective, rapid molecular diagnostic kit for TB/MDR-TB has been developed in collaboration with ICMR, DBT and the industry.
Ayush
- The Department of AYUSH was granted the status of Ministry in 2014.
- The Ministry is responsible for policy formulation, development and implementation of programmes for the growth, development and propagation of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) systems of Health Care.
- Sowa Rigpa is the recent addition to the existing facility of AYUSH systems. Sowa-Rigpa is practised in Himalayan regions throughout particularly in Leh and Laddakh (J&K), Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling, etc.
- The Unani system of medicine originated in Greece and passed through many countries before establishing itself in India during the medieval period.
- The Siddha System of medicine is one of the ancient systems of medicine in India having its close links with Dravidian culture.
- Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician scientifically examined this phenomenon and codified the fundamental principles of Homoeopathy.
- National AYUSH Mission (NAM) was notified in 2014 which envisages better access to AYUSH services including co-location of AYUSH facilities at Health Centres.
Autonomous Institutes imparting ASU & H education:
- National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur
- Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar
- National Institute of Homoeopathy, Kolkata
- National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bengaluru
- National Institute of Siddha, Chennai
