India’s fight against COVID-19 is a story of grit, determination and victory. It is the story of the triumph of Sabka Saath and Sabka Prayas.  The biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic for India and the rest of the world is that for humanity and the human cause, we have to work in tandem to protect each other when in a life-threatening crisis. United we stand, divided we fall. We must learn from each other, continuously guide each other about our best practices, and keep innovating. The modern problem requires modern solutions.

Technology, research and innovation have been integral to India’s spirited fight against COVID-19. Right from the beginning, India adopted a digital approach as part and parcel of our COVID-19 management strategy and also to carry out the world’s largest and most successful vaccination. Healthcare and digital infrastructure created over the years helped India combat COVID-19 successfully. The vaccination drive was planned well based on scientific evidence and global best practices. India’s vaccination programme commenced with two indigenously developed vaccines – COVAXIN and COVISHIELD. In no time, India’s vaccination drive became a Jan Andolan. On 19th December 2022, India crossed the milestone of 220 Crore COVID-19 vaccinations. With the help of CoWIN, India tracked every dose of precious COVID-19 vaccines and minimised wastage. The development of the Aarogya Setu App and CoWIN ensured and strengthened the end-to-end digital approach covering the entire length and breadth of the country.

India’s fight against COVID-19 has been powered by PM Narendra Modi’s mantra of Aatmanirbharta. In mission mode, a strong focus was on strengthening medical and healthcare infrastructure. Efforts were made to enhance the core capacities in terms of laboratory, hospital infrastructure, R & D on diagnostics, etc., along with the development of indigenous capacities in terms of essential logistics, including personal protective equipment, testing labs, diagnostics, ventilators and oxygen generation plants, and vaccines among others. The Central Government extended all possible logistic and financial support to the States to enable them to combat the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. Under financial support, Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Packages were announced. Also, States were allowed to spend 50 percent of the Funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund (FY 2020-21). Rs 11,000 Crore was also Released to States  Under National Health Mission (FY 2019-2020). To better prepare the country to respond effectively to current and future pandemics/disasters and develop the capacity of Health Systems across the continuum of care at all levels, the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission was launched in 2021 with an outlay of Rs 64,180 Crores.

India presented before the world an exemplary model of COVID management, with the Centre and States working in unison in a federal democracy to overcome an unprecedented crisis. Prime Minister interacted with the Chief Ministers of all states, UT administrations, and all stakeholders to regularly understand issues and collaborate with the states to implement effective COVID management. PM Modi Ji provided strong and decisive leadership and guidance for the national response to the pandemic. Jan Andolan and Jan Bhagidari remained key pillars of India’s COVID-19 management strategy.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, India focused on protecting both lives and livelihoods with a whole of government approach, robust communication strategies, effective use of digital and technological tools and a mammoth effort on the part of grassroots health workers. Timely measures, including test, track and treat approach with focused genome sequencing, containment through containment zones, community surveillance, protocols for home isolation and effective clinical treatment, have contributed tremendously to India’s COVID management.  To ensure accessibility of quality treatment for both COVID and non-COVID health issues to far-flung areas, the use of telemedicine, ‘eSanjeevani’ has been promoted in a big way. 'eSanjeevani' recently crossed the milestone of 8 crore Teleconsultations.

Learning from the COVID-19 experience, India is rebuilding, restructuring, reinventing and creating a future-ready healthcare system for the post-pandemic era. India has learned many valuable lessons related to the challenges in its healthcare system, and now, the country is using these lessons to create a healthy and prosperous India. India is working relentlessly towards reducing high out-of-pocket expenditure, focusing on capacity building and increasing the doctor-to-population ratio. Modi Govt is also rapidly expanding Digital health and Telehealth services to remote rural areas to ensure equitable access to quality healthcare. To ensure holistic health for all, PM Narendra Modi’s Govt has focused on encouraging people to adopt healthy lifestyle choices, such as practising yoga, maintaining physical fitness and eating nutritious food to prevent health problems. FSSAI has made a tremendous contribution towards promoting healthy food habits.

India is marching rapidly towards achieving Universal Health Coverage through Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Through path-breaking interventions under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, India holistically addresses primary, secondary and tertiary health issues. There are four main pillars of the Ayushman Bharat Mission:

1. Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)

3. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

4. Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission

India took a giant leap towards providing accessible and affordable healthcare to the commoner with the launch of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana by the PM, Shri Narendra Modi, on 23rd September 2018. AB-PMJAY is the “world’s largest government-funded healthcare program” targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries. The poorest person gets the same quality healthcare as others in premier hospitals through Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY.  Over 4.17 Crore Admissions Under PM-JAY since the Scheme's launch and over 20.86 Ayushman Cards created. Ayushman Bharat Health Benefits Package has been revised 5 times since September 2018. The Scheme was launched with 1,393 Packages; now, it has 1,949 packages.

With Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres, India is moving from a selective healthcare approach to a more comprehensive range of services comprising preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care for all ages. Over 1.33 Lakh AB-HWCs nationwide are delivering comprehensive health care services like maternal and child health, services to address communicable and non-communicable diseases and services for elderly and palliative care. AB-HWCs provide free essential medicines and diagnostic services, teleconsultation, and health promotion, including wellness activities like yoga, meditation, Zumba, etc. Over 1.03 Lakh AB-HWCs are equipped with eSanjeevani Teleconsultation services. By the end of December 2022, 1.5 Lakh AB-HWCs will be operationalised nationwide.

On 27 September 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nationwide rollout of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission with a five-year budget of Rs. 1,600 crore. It aims to develop the backbone for the country's integrated digital health infrastructure. As of 19.12.2022, over 29.57 Crore ABHA IDs have been created, over 4.47 Health Records Linked, 1,74,324 verified facilities on HFR and 1,11,737 verified Healthcare professionals.

PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission is the largest pan-India scheme for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across the country. PM-ABHIM aims to develop core capacity to deliver the One Health Approach to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks in animals and humans. Major Achievements Under PM-ABHIM are as follows:

- Support has been Provided to 6487 Building Less Sub-Health Centers

- Establishment of 264 Urban Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs)

- Establishment of 426 Block Public Health Units (BPHUs)

- Establishment of 208 Integrated Public Health Laboratory (IPHL) and 166 Critical Care Blocks (CCBs) Hospital

The PM-ABHIM aims to build an IT-enabled disease surveillance system by developing a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels in Metropolitan areas and strengthening health units at the Points of Entry for effectively detecting, investigating, preventing, and combating Public Health Emergencies and Disease Outbreaks. The PM-ABHIM is one of the biggest outcomes of overall learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has allowed us to boost healthcare facilities, including laboratories, hospitals and diagnostic facilities at all levels of healthcare. PM-ABHIM will help create a future-ready and resilient healthcare ecosystem at the earliest. The components, such as setting up of the National Platform for One Health, setting up a Division for Research on Disease Elimination Sciences and Health as a Satellite Centre of National Aids Research Institute, setting up of the Regional NIVs, strengthening of existing National Research Institutions, the NCDC and existing laboratory infrastructure, upgradation of labs and creation of additional BSL-3 facilities under the ICMR and the NCDC, will further strengthen the country capacity to detect and diagnose new infections.

PM Narendra Modi Ji’s Govt has adopted the ‘Total Approach’ instead of the ‘Token approach’ to address various health challenges. India has established itself as the focal point of AYUSH. 40,000 MSMEs are active in the Ayush sector. Ayush Industry, about 20 thousand crore rupees 8 years ago, has reached about 1.5 lakh crore rupees today. Under PM Narendra Modi Ji’s leadership, unprecedented efforts have been made in the past years to promote the export of Ayush products. The wide acceptability of Ayurveda and other traditional medicinal practices has given the Ayush sector a shot in the arm globally. Ayurveda is an ancient tradition and source of wealth in India.  The AYUSH Aahar of FSSAI will further popularise and promote AYUSH products. To take the growth of traditional Indian medicines to new heights, PM Narendra Modi ji recently laid the foundation stone for the WHO Global Center of Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat.  India is known as the Pharmacy of the World; with evidence-based research, the country is taking traditional medicine systems and Ayurveda to new heights.

In addition, work has started to ensure that every district has at least one medical college. India is leaving no stone unturned towards making medical education accessible to all. There has been an increase of 67 percent in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 648. Further, there is an increase of 87 per cent in MBBS seats from 51348 before 2014 to 96077 as of now and an increase of 105 per cent in PG seats from 31185 before 2014 to 64059. The number of AIIMS in the country has increased from 6 in 2014 to 22 in 2022.  All this will help fulfil the requirement of trained medical professionals in healthcare and significantly strengthen PM Narendra Modi Ji’s ‘Heal in India’ and ‘Heal by India’ initiatives. This will also build a trained frontline health workforce to respond to any public health emergency and help realise PM Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of safe, comprehensive, affordable and accessible healthcare.

With the mantra of Antyodaya, India is implementing the largest immunisation programme globally, where it annually covers more than three crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore children through the Universal Immunisation Programme. Prime Minister launched Mission Indradhanush in December 2014 to cover partially and unvaccinated pregnant women and children in pockets of low immunisation coverage and high-risk and hard-to-reach areas and protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases. Under the Universal Immunization Program (UIP), vaccination is provided against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, of which 11 diseases are covered nationally, and one disease, namely Japanese Encephalitis,s is covered in endemic states/districts. Under UIP, vaccines are provided free of cost across the country, including tribal areas. Under Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 (February-May 2022), 418 districts of the country were covered.

To realise the vision of a healthy and prosperous India, the country is eliminating several vector-borne diseases and many other non-communicable diseases. India is committed to achieving the goal of TB Mukt Bharat by 2025. Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has further strengthened the mission to make India TB-free by 2025. Ni-Kshay Mitra initiative has become a Jan Andolan now: Commitment by Ni-kshay Mitra for TB Patients - 920760; TB Patients consented to receive community support - 988111. TB Testing and diagnostic infrastructure have also been expanded with improved treatment success rates.

India is also marching towards Malaria Mukt Bharat by 2030. In 2021, only four districts reported annual parasite incidence of 1 or more. One hundred twenty-five districts reported 'Zero Malaria Cases'. There has been an overall reduction of 85.3 percent in Malaria cases Between 2014 and 2021. When it comes to malaria deaths, it has reduced by 85.8 percent between 2014 and 2022. World Malaria Reports for three consecutive years hailed India's progress in achieving Malaria Elimination by 2030.

 

There has been a huge decline in cases of many other diseases, including Kala Azar, Japanese Encephalitis, Lymphatic Filariasis, Leprosy, AIDS, etc.

Screening of common non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, breast, oral, and cervical cancer is integral to service delivery under Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres. The preventive aspect of NCDs is strengthened under Comprehensive Primary Health Care through Ayushman Bharat Health Wellness Centre by promoting wellness activities and targeted communication at the community level.  Other initiatives for increasing public awareness about NCDs and promoting a healthy lifestyle include the observation of National and International Health Days and using print, electronic, and social media for continued community awareness. Furthermore, healthy eating is also promoted through FSSAI.

Under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership, the focus has now shifted to prevention and wellness and the importance of holistic and integrated medicine systems for the overall wellness and health of the people. Only healthy people and healthy Individuals can create a strong, resilient and prosperous nation. A healthy India will be a strong, wealthy and prosperous India.