Govt floats National Health Authority for better implementation of Ayushman Bharat

The government Wednesday decided to dissolve the National Health Agency and approved the formation of a new body named National Health Authority for better implementation of Ayushman Bharat, the Centre's healthcare scheme for the poor. The existing society -- National Health Agency -- has been dissolved and will be replaced by the National Health Authority as an attached office to the Ministry of Health, an official statement said.

"The existing multi-tier decision-making structure has been replaced with the Governing Board chaired by the Union Minister of Health which will enable the decision making at a faster pace, required for smooth implementation of the scheme," the statement said. Welcoming the Union Cabinet's decision, Health Minister JP Nadda said, "The world's largest healthcare scheme rightfully deserves the most efficient and effective governance structure with total accountability."

The composition of the Governing Board of the new body is broad-based with due representations from the government and domain experts. Besides, the states shall also be represented on the Board on a rotational basis.

"No new funds have been approved. The existing budget that was approved earlier by the Cabinet for The National Health Agency, including costs related to IT, human resources, infrastructure and operational costs would be utilized by the proposed National Health Authority," the statement stated. It is envisaged that the National Health Authority shall have full accountability, authority and mandate to implement the scheme through an efficient, effective and transparent decision-making process, it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)