The State Minister for Health and Family Welfare mentioned at the Rajya Sabha session held on 13 March the formulation and implementation of the National Health Policy thats aims to elevate healthcare services in the country.

The State Minister for Health and Family Welfare said at a Rajya Sabha session held on 13 March that the government has formulated and brought out the National Health Policy (NHP), 2017, aimed at attaining the highest possible level of good health and well-being, by creating preventive and promotive health care orientation of all policies, and enabling universal access to good quality healthcare without the burden of financial hardship.

The NHP has recognized the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and has strongly advocated the need to halt and reverse the growing burden of chronic diseases. The policy mentions important changes that would be made in both selective and comprehensive primary healthcare packages.

The government will also be implementing a national programme for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke (NPCDCS) under the National Health Mission. The programme will offer population-based screening for common NCDs and cancers by utilizing the services of frontline workers and other healthcare workers under the existing primary healthcare system. This process will also generate awareness among the public of risk factors of common NCDs.

The minister said, "A draft model concessionaire agreement (MCA) has been prepared by NITI Aayog for provision of prevention and treatment services for non-communicable diseases (Cardiac Sciences, Oncology, and Pulmonary Sciences) at the district level, especially in tier 2 & 3 cities and has been shared with state governments. As informed by NITI Aayog, so far response has been received from 3 states namely Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Odisha."

In collaboration with the Ministry of AYUSH through its three research organizations, namely, Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy(CCRH) and Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine(CCRUM), a programme is being implemented in Gaya (Bihar), Bhilwara (Rajasthan), and Surendarnagar (Gujarat) for Ayurveda, LakhimpurKheri (Uttar Pradesh) for Unani and Darjeeling (West Bengal), Krishna (Andhra Pradesh), Sambalpur (Odisha) & Nasik (Maharashtra) for Homoeopathy to use the knowledge available in the AYUSH system of medicines for prevention and control of non-communicable Diseases.