Despite efforts to improve access to healthcare, India's public health system is still underfunded and disorganised

Concerning the Public Health System in India

India's public health framework is designed to ensure universal access to healthcare, prioritizing preventive, promotional, and curative services. It functions through national health programs, state initiatives, and local healthcare delivery systems.

It is vital in India because of the dual challenge of communicable and non-communicable diseases, along with considerable health inequalities.

The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is a prominent public health organization in India focused on training, research, and policy formulation in this sector.

Main Issues in India’s Public Health System

Policy Paralysis and Governance Challenges: Public health duties are distributed among various governmental tiers, such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water Resources, Food Safety Authorities, and local entities, leading to inadequate coordination and gaps in accountability.

Immunization and disease management are handled by separate public health and preventive medicine departments, while food safety, sanitation, and water management are overseen by different Commissionerates.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) combats tobacco-related diseases, whereas the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) promotes tobacco cultivation, highlighting a disconnect in policy alignment. The lack of a cohesive national health plan leads to varying healthcare policies among states.

Insufficient Training and Education Standards: Health education in India frequently focuses solely on medical training, overlooking social, environmental, and behavioral health elements. The Master of Public Health (MPH) programs do not have uniform curricula, which impacts the quality of public health practitioners.

Insufficient Funding and Infrastructure Deficiencies: India’s healthcare expenditures fall short of international standards, restricting investments in primary care and preventive health services. The expansion of private healthcare has eclipsed the progress of the public sector, increasing disparities in healthcare access.

Essential Elements of India’s Public Health System

Ayushman Bharat: India’s premier universal health coverage initiative, offering financial security for secondary and tertiary healthcare.

National Health Mission (NHM): Its emphasis is on maternal and child health, managing communicable diseases, and enhancing primary healthcare.

It encompasses Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) aimed at enhancing preventive healthcare services. Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs): Enhance preventive health measures and broaden primary health services.

National Health Policy (2017): It describes India’s goals for enhancing healthcare systems, preventing diseases, and achieving universal health coverage.

It highlights the growth of primary healthcare, the incorporation of digital health, and financial safeguards for at-risk communities. It suggested increasing public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, and recent budget distributions show advancement towards this target.

Public Health Monitoring (Vision 2035): Its goal is to improve disease surveillance and response tactics based on data. It fosters the collection of real-time health data and predictive analytics to ensure readiness for epidemics.

Strengthening Health Systems: India has implemented Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) to guarantee the provision of quality healthcare.

Projects encompass hospital administration organizations, training initiatives, and quality control systems.

Governance and Policy Structures in Public Health:

Responsibilities for public health are distributed among central, state, and local governments, resulting in overlapping regulations and poor coordination.

The MoHFW supervises national health strategies, disease management initiatives, and healthcare training.

Path Ahead

Enhancing Public Health Governance: Creating a unified health policy system to better coordinate efforts between national and state health organizations.

Broadening public health education away from solely medical training to incorporate social sciences, environmental health, and policy evaluation.

Improve collaboration between departments to align initiatives in disease prevention, sanitation, pollution management, and food safety.

Funding Healthcare Infrastructure: Enhancing budget distribution for primary healthcare, emphasizing preventive services and disease monitoring.

Improving training programs for public health workers by standardizing curricula and fostering skill acquisition.

Encouraging Health Initiatives at the Community Level: Fostering local government involvement in healthcare planning and execution.

Enhancing public awareness initiatives to boost health literacy and encourage the uptake of preventive care.

Final Remark

India’s public health system urgently needs policy reforms, enhanced training initiatives, and greater funding to tackle systemic inefficiencies.

By enhancing governance, investing in infrastructure, and broadening education, India can create a robust and fair healthcare system for generations to come.