Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan details on India's Universal Health Coverage Goals

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday, October 8 that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of "a resilient and strong public health system".

While speaking at a high-level ministerial meeting on Universal Health Coverage, Vardhan said, "In September 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a political declaration on Universal Health Coverage. The political declaration among its many commitments stresses the importance of strong primary health care systems, increasing investments for health and effective public health systems." 

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India working on making Universal health coverage

The Union Health Minister further spoke about the pandemic and how the world has been struggling against it for months now. He noted that the COVID-19 has tested the resilience of global health systems to their utmost. "We must applaud the resolve shown by the community of nations in effectively tackling the pandemic and at the same time working to further the aim of universal health coverage," the Minister added.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan informed that India is working towards making Universal health coverage a reality as a part of its Sustainable Development goals. He said that Ayushman Bharat, which mainly focuses on health and wellness centres giving essential medical care to all, was unveiled in 2018 in view of these objectives. The health minister also stressed that the scheme provides secondary and tertiary inpatient health services to 500 million citizens. 

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, October 7 also argued for universal health coverage as protection against future health crisis. He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world how “utterly inadequate" the current health systems are. He appealed that universal health coverage is necessary for the countries to handle such a health crisis in the future.

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Inputs: ANI Image: PTI