It’s all in the design: Ayushman Bharat can be transformational if governance of public healthcare is altered
Abstract:
Other than the Swachh Bharat Mission, ‘Ayushman Bharat’ is potentially the most far-reaching social programme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the first time, the programme gives vulnerable families hope that they will be able to escape financial ruin when faced with illnesses requiring hospitalisation.
Though the media has focussed disproportionately on the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) aimed at covering 100 million households for secondary and tertiary care, Ayushman Bharat also includes a component that proposes to strengthen primary healthcare. This latter component would establish 1,50,000 Wellness Centres.
To ensure success, it is important that enough thought goes into designing the two schemes. More than five decades worth of experience with the provision of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare by the government have been deeply disappointing.