
From coverage to assurance: Fixing India’s health system
Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].As India stands at a pivotal moment in its journey toward universal health coverage (UHC).
The challenge now is to strengthen the health system—its workforce, primary care and medicine supply—so that coverage translates into assured care for every citizen.The Ayushman Bharat programme provides a strong vehicle for delivering UHC, working alongside vertically designed national health programmes that address specific health challenges. However, translating these programmes into assured outcomes requires a new set of initiatives to expand system capacity and execution capability.All health programmes ultimately depend on the availability and distribution of a skilled health workforce.
India faces stark regional imbalances, with clustering of doctors and health professionals in southern and western states, alongside chronic shortages elsewhere. Urban–rural disparities further compound the problem, limiting access to qualified care in underserved regions.The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that India faces a shortage of nearly 1.8 million health workers.
It falls short of the threshold of 44.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10 000 population, recommended by WHO’s 2016 Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health for achieving health-related sustainable development goal (SDG) targets. Current estimates place India’s availability between 28 and 33.5 per 10,000.Although India reportedly has 1.05 million registered doctors, the number of active and available
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