Ayushman Bharat: WHO chief Tedros hails India for Universal Health Coverage

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the ongoing G20 Health Ministers' Meeting in Gandhinagar, Tedros was quoted as saying by ANI: "I commend India for their steps in advancing Universal Health Coverage and the Ayushman Bharat scheme which is the world 's largest health assurance initiative."

Recalling his visit to a  Health and Wellness Centre, Tedros said: "I visited a Health and Wellness Centre here in Gandhinagar and was impressed by the primary healthcare services being provided to 1000 households by the HWC."

Highlighting that the world today is witnessing an exponential rise in digital health solutions that are focused on vertical health programmes, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “This siloed approach and fragmented digital solutions results in significant workload on health workers, inefficiencies due to duplication and lack of interoperability."

"India’s G20 presidency has leveraged its experience on developing a national digital health architecture through the convergence of digital health interventions aimed at health systems strengthening through interoperability by design," he said.

In this regard, Mandaviya applauded the efforts and cooperation of G20 countries, Invited Countries, International Organizations and other stakeholders for collectively recognizing the need for a common framework to integrate all initiatives by consolidating efforts and investments made in the digital health space and creating a comprehensive digital health ecosystem through the ‘Global Initiative on Digital Health – a WHO Managed Network.’

The Union Health Minister also highlighted the significant strides taken by India in implementing innovative digital health solutions at the national level, while also being a strong vocal advocate of the digital agenda in the global arena under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

He also reminded the dignitaries that India led the Digital Health resolution at 71st World Health Assembly in 2018 in Geneva which spurred global action on this vital agenda.

He further stated that India as a chair of Global Digital Health Partnership and Commonwealth Technical Working Group has highlighted the importance of the digital health for health systems strengthening as a critical enabler of national policies.