At the WHO Assembly, PM Modi highlights India’s inclusive health model as a global blueprint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva today, projected India’s healthcare transformation as a blueprint for global health equity, particularly for countries in the Global South. Emphasising inclusion, integration, and collaboration, Modi underscored India’s multi-pronged efforts to expand affordable and accessible healthcare to over half a billion people.

“Inclusion is at the heart of India’s health reforms,” the Prime Minister declared, spotlighting Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest health insurance programme that covers 580 million people and provides free treatment across India. He further noted that India's public health ecosystem has grown robust, citing the rollout of Health and Wellness Centres nationwide, offering early screening for critical illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, and hypertension.

Modi also pointed to India’s efforts to ensure access to affordable medicines. “Thousands of public pharmacies across the country provide high-quality medicines at prices significantly lower than market rates,” he said, highlighting initiatives that reduce out-of-pocket healthcare expenses and democratise access to essential drugs.

A key theme of Modi’s address was technology as a healthcare enabler. India, he noted, has developed digital platforms to track the vaccination of pregnant women and children, and has created unique digital health identities for millions of citizens. These digital health IDs serve as integrators—linking records, insurance, benefits, and information into a seamless digital health architecture.

Thanks to these reforms, out-of-pocket expenditure in India has declined significantly as a percentage of total health spending, while government expenditure on health has risen considerably, Modi said.

Concluding his address, the Prime Minister made a global appeal: “The health of the world depends on how well we care about the most vulnerable, especially in the Global South, who are particularly impacted by health challenges.”