India presented its comprehensive healthcare achievements at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, highlighting progress across three major initiatives. Union Health Secretary Smt. Punya Salila Srivastava detailed India's Universal Health Coverage framework built around over 1.8 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs that provide reproductive and child health services, non-communicable disease screening and management, mental health services, elderly and palliative care, along with preventive, promotive and curative healthcare.
The digital health infrastructure supports this system with over 900 million unique health identities, interoperable digital registries of health facilities and professionals, and ABHA-enabled health records. Telemedicine services through e-Sanjeevani have facilitated more than 497 million teleconsultations, complemented by teleradiology, AI-enabled X-rays, and Mobile Medical Units to reach remote areas. The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) provides financial protection, supported by the Free Drugs and Diagnostics Service Initiative and the Prime Minister's National Dialysis Programme.
For hepatitis elimination, India reported embedding viral hepatitis screening within the National Health Mission framework across nearly 1.80 lakh primary healthcare facilities up to tertiary care centers. The program has expanded to 1,039 treatment centers and screened approximately 225 million beneficiaries since the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme launched in 2018. Prevention measures include integration with reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
India co-hosted the launch of OneSCD: A Global Partnership to Advance Equity and Transform Sickle Cell Care, showcasing its National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission launched in 2023 with a 2047 elimination target. The mission has screened more than 7.29 crore people, identified over 20 lakh carriers, diagnosed 2.5 lakh people with the disease, and distributed more than 4.93 crore Sickle Cell Cards. The approach includes population-level screening, early diagnosis, counselling, treatment, follow-up, digital tracking, and research into indigenous gene-editing therapy while expanding access to affordable point-of-care diagnostics and hydroxyurea therapy.