India today, is the world‟s third largest economy in terms of its Gross National Income
(in PPP terms) and has the potential to grow larger and more equitably, and to emerge to be
counted as one of the developed nations of the world. India today possesses as never before, a
sophisticated arsenal of interventions, technologies and knowledge required for providing
health care to her people. Yet the gaps in health outcomes continue to widen. On the face of
it, much of the ill health, disease, premature death, and suffering we see on such a large scale is
needless, given the availability of effective and affordable interventions for prevention and
treatment. “The reality is straightforward. The power of existing interventions is not matched
by the power of health systems to deliver them to those in greatest need, in a comprehensive
way, and on an adequate scale".
1.2.This National Health Policy addresses the urgent need to improve the performance of health
systems. It is being formulated at the last year of the Millennium Declaration and its Goals, in
the global context of all nations committed to moving towards universal health coverage.
Given the two-way linkage between economic growth and health status, this National Health
Policy is a declaration of the determination of the Government to leverage economic growth to
achieve health outcomes and an explicit acknowledgement that better health contributes
immensely to improved productivity as well as to equity.
The National Health Policy of 1983 and the National Health Policy of 2002 have served us
well, in guiding the approach for the health sector in the Five-Year Plans and for different
schemes, Now 13 years after the last health policy, the context has changed in four major ways.
Firstly- Health Priorities are changing. As a result of focused action over the last decade we are
projected to attain Millennium Development Goals with respect to maternal and child
mortality. Maternal mortality now accounts for 0.55% of all deaths and 4% of all female deaths
in the 15 to 49 year age group. This is still 46,500 maternal deaths too many, and demands that
the commitments to further reduction must not flag. However it also signifies a rising and
unfulfilled expectation of many other health needs that currently receive little public attention.
There are many infectious diseases which the system has failed to respond to – either in terms
of prevention or access to treatment. Then there is a growing burden of non-communicable
disease. The second important change in context is the emergence of a robust health care
industry growing at 15% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). This represents twice the
rate of growth in all services and thrice the national economic growth rate. Thirdly, incidence
of catastrophic expenditure due to health care costs is growing and is now being estimated to
be one of the major contributors to poverty. The drain on family incomes due to health care
costs can neutralize the gains of income increases and every Government scheme aimed to
reduce poverty. The fourth and final change in context is that economic growth has increased
the fiscal capacity available. Therefore, the country needs a new health policy that is responsive
to these contextual changes. Other than these objective factors, the political will to ensure universal access to affordable healthcare services in an assured mode – the promise of Health
Assurance – is an important catalyst for the framing of a New Health Policy.
1.4.The primary aim of the National Health Policy, 2015, is to inform, clarify, strengthen and
prioritize the role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensionsinvestment
in health, organization and financing of healthcare services, prevention of diseases
and promotion of good health through cross sectoral action, access to technologies, developing
human resources, encouraging medical pluralism, building the knowledge base required for
better health, financial protection strategies and regulation and legislation for health.
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