Health & Family Welfare: a public health record

India’s public health system is shared between the Union and the States. Public health, hospitals and dispensaries are State subjects under the Constitution. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sets national policy, runs national disease-control and family-welfare programmes, and funds States through the National Health Mission (NHM). It also regulates drugs, medical education and food safety.

The policy framework for this system is the National Health Policy 2017, which the Union Cabinet approved on 15 March 2017, during Nadda’s first tenure. It aims for universal access to good-quality health care at affordable cost and gives priority to primary care and prevention.

The Ministry also represents India in global health forums. In October 2024 Nadda was elected chair of the 77th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia in New Delhi and gave its inaugural address. In September 2026 he led India’s delegation to the 79th session in Dili, Timor-Leste.

Primary care is delivered through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, formerly Health and Wellness Centres. These are upgraded sub-health centres and primary health centres that offer an expanded package of services, including screening for common non-communicable diseases. The first centre opened in 2018.

The PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) was launched in October 2021. It funds critical-care blocks, integrated public health laboratories and disease surveillance. Its outlay is about ₹64,180 crore for 2021–22 to 2025–26. Quality is assessed against the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS). In December 2025 the minister said that more than 30,000 Arogya Mandirs had been NQAS-certified.

The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences are autonomous institutions under the Ministry. Beyond AIIMS New Delhi, 22 new AIIMS have been sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The six first-phase institutes — Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh — are fully functional. Sources differ on how many of the rest are fully operational, so no single count is given here.

AIIMS Bilaspur is in Himachal Pradesh, in the district Nadda once represented. The Prime Minister laid its foundation stone on 3 October 2017, during Nadda’s first tenure as Union Health Minister, and inaugurated it on 5 October 2022.

Access to hospital care is financed through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. It provides cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation to about 12 crore families, roughly 55 crore people. On 11 September 2024 the Union Cabinet extended the scheme to every citizen aged 70 and above, regardless of income. The Ayushman Vay Vandana card for this group was launched on 29 October 2024.

Several of today’s maternal and child health programmes began during Nadda’s first tenure:

• Mission Indradhanush — he launched it on 25 December 2014 to reach unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children, starting in 201 high-focus districts. By December 2024, 5.46 crore children and 1.32 crore pregnant women had been vaccinated across its phases.
• Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) — free antenatal check-ups on the 9th of every month. He unveiled the programme nationally on 4 November 2016.
• MAA (Mothers’ Absolute Affection) — a breastfeeding promotion programme launched in August 2016.

India was validated as having eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2015. On 8 September 2026 WHO’s South-East Asia Region recognised India, alongside eight other countries, for sustaining that elimination ten years on. In 2024 the U-WIN digital platform was launched for immunisation records. In February 2026 a national HPV vaccination campaign for 14-year-old girls began; the Prime Minister launched it and the minister took part virtually.

Hypertension, diabetes and common cancers now account for a large share of India’s disease burden. From 20 February to 31 March 2025 the Ministry ran a national screening campaign. It aimed to screen everyone aged 30 and above at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs for diabetes, hypertension, and oral, breast and cervical cancer.

Under the “75/25” initiative, the target was to put 75 million people with hypertension or diabetes on standard care by 2025. On 8 September 2026 WHO’s South-East Asia Region recognised India for placing more than 94 million people on protocol-based management of the two conditions, exceeding the target.

The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission was launched by the Prime Minister in July 2023. Its target of screening 7 crore people was met ahead of schedule, as announced in June 2026.

Tuberculosis. On 7 December 2024, in Panchkula, Haryana, the minister launched a 100-day intensified TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan across 347 districts in 33 States and Union Territories. The campaign screened 12.97 crore people and notified 7.19 lakh TB patients, about 2.85 lakh of whom had no symptoms. On 24 March 2025 it was extended nationwide. By March 2026 more than 20 crore people had been screened.

WHO’s Global TB Report 2025 records that India’s TB incidence fell by 21% between 2015 and 2024, from 237 to 187 per lakh population, against a global decline of 12%. TB mortality fell from 28 to 21 per lakh.

Neglected tropical diseases. In July 2016 the minister received WHO and UNICEF citations for India’s elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus and for being declared yaws-free. On 8 October 2024 WHO validated India’s elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. India was the third country in the South-East Asia Region to achieve this.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) gives people an Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) number. It links health records across providers with the person’s consent. PIB data from January 2026 show about 85 crore ABHA numbers created across financial years. Addressing the World Health Assembly in May 2026, the minister put the figure at “over 880 million” digital health IDs.

On 17 February 2026, at the India AI Impact Summit, he launched SAHI, a strategy for artificial intelligence in health care, along with the BODH initiative. Immunisation records are held on the U-WIN platform.

Biomedical research sits with the Department of Health Research, the Ministry’s second department, which includes the Indian Council of Medical Research. It is allocated ₹4,821.21 crore in the 2026–27 Union Budget.

Public-sector vaccine institutions also report to the Ministry. On 21 February 2026 the minister launched the indigenous Tetanus and adult Diphtheria (Td) vaccine produced by the Central Research Institute, Kasauli, in Himachal Pradesh. In November 2025 he gave a video address to the assembly of the National One Health Mission, which links human, animal and environmental health surveillance.

India’s capacity to train doctors has grown sharply. According to the Ministry, there were 387 medical colleges in 2013–14 and 808 in 2025–26. National Medical Commission data show that between 2020–21 and 2025–26 about 48,563 MBBS seats and 29,080 postgraduate seats were added.

On 24 September 2025 the Union Cabinet approved a further 5,023 MBBS and 5,000 postgraduate seats for 2025–26 to 2028–29, at a cost of ₹15,034.50 crore. At the WHO Regional Committee in Dili in September 2026, the minister spoke at a ministerial roundtable on human resources for health and equity in specialised care.

Prevention runs through screening, immunisation, sanitation in health facilities and tobacco control. On 15 May 2015 the minister launched the Kayakalp awards, which recognise cleanliness, hygiene and infection control in public health facilities. In June 2017 WHO conferred on him the Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for contribution to global tobacco control. It was presented in New Delhi.

In September 2025 the Swasth Nari Sashakt Parivar Abhiyaan, a health-camp campaign for women and families, was launched by the Prime Minister; the minister attended camps in Haryana. On World Patient Safety Day, 17 September 2026, he spoke on patient safety, hygiene and quality of care.

The Ministry’s allocation in the 2026–27 Union Budget is ₹1,06,530.42 crore, about 10% above the revised estimate for 2025–26. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare is assisted by two Ministers of State, Anupriya Patel and Prataprao Jadhav. The Ministry is administered by the Secretaries of its two departments.

The minister also represents India internationally:

• President of the 68th World Health Assembly, Geneva, elected on 18 May 2015.
• Chair of the 77th WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee, New Delhi, October 2024.
• Address to the 79th World Health Assembly plenary, Geneva, 19 May 2026.
• Chair of the 16th BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting, Chandigarh, 23 July 2026, at which the BRICS Health Ministerial Declaration was adopted.