AYUSHMAN BHARAT YOJANA: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN INDIAN HEALTHCARE PUBLIC POLICY

Health is wealth this has been proven true quite literally now. Health is a very important indicator of development in a nation. It is unfair to label development exclusively as economic growth. Development is an all inclusive mode of progress for a country. Merely judging a countrys progress based on economic factors like GDP and GNP will not reflect an accurate image of development. Development requires both income growth and improvement in healthcare. India in the past few decades had major problems in the healthcare system, such as lack of awareness and access, affordability and accountability. India is a developing nation with a highly educated workforce in the healthcare sector, yet the inefficient management of the Covid-19 pandemic revealed gaps in Indias various healthcare programs. The solution to all these issues was to aim for a healthy nation where each citizen is aware of their health and has equitable opportunity to access affordable healthcare with increased emphasis on prevention, early diagnosis and assured minimum quality of care supported by an ecosystem of private and public players. In this paper I have given an indepth analysis on a public policy which was formulated to combat these challenges called Ayushman Bharat Yojana.