Health Minister JP Nadda held a meeting with senior officials on Friday to discuss the government’s 100-day agenda for the public healthcare sector. The meeting focused on reviewing ongoing projects and emphasizing the expansion of health assurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and the U-WIN portal, which will digitize all routine immunizations. The agenda includes extending AB PM-JAY to all individuals aged 70 years and above, rolling out the U-WIN portal, and launching the National Health Claims Exchange to ensure interoperability and faster processing of health insurance claims. Additionally, the ministry aims to ease business processes, such as introducing tatkal issuance of licenses for select food businesses under the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).
Nadda expressed concern about the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and highlighted the importance of awareness regarding healthy diets and lifestyles. He also stressed the need for effective health emergency response management and targeted campaigns towards youth for tobacco control. He emphasized creating awareness about NCDs and the harmful effects of tobacco in both scientific and simple language for better public understanding. Ministers of State for Health Anupriya Patel and Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao also participated in the meeting.
In April, while releasing the BJP’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, the Prime Minister announced that senior citizens above 70 years and the transgender community would be included under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
