Introduction to National Health Policy
                     NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY
Introduction
• The primary goal of the National Health Policy is to inform, clarify, strengthen and prioritise the 
Government’s role in moulding the Health System in various dimensions such as investments in 
health, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross-sectoral actions, 
organisation of healthcare services, developing human resources, access to technologies and more. 
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National Health Policy 2017
• The National Health Policy 2017 continues to build on the progress made by the previous Policy back 
in 2002. The context of the National Health Policy 2017 has been different from the context in four 
significant ways. 
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Factors
• Ever Changing Health Priorities: Even with the rapid decline of maternal and child mortality rates, 
there has been a constant growth in the number of non-communicable and infectious diseases.
• Growth Rate of the Health Care Industry: One significant change is the emergence of a robust health 
care industry that is estimated to grow in leaps and bounds.
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Factors Cont.
• Catastrophic Expenditure: The growing rate of catastrophic expenditure due to costs for healthcare is 
another reason. Poverty is said to be a result of these costs.
• Economic Growth: The rise in economic growth enables enhanced fiscal capacity.
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Goals
• The Policy aims to attain the highest level of health and well-being possible for every individual at any 
given age group. This is achieved through promotive and preventive health care orientation in every 
developmental Policy. 
• Additionally, it also focuses on universal access to excellent quality health care services where no 
individual has to face the consequences of financial hardship.
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How it can be achieved?
• This will be achieved through the offering more access, improving quality and lowering the overall 
expenses of the health care services. 
• The Policy recognizes the importance of Sustainable Development Goals along with an indicative list 
of time-bound quantitative goals aligned to ongoing national efforts and global strategic directions.
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Key Principles
Professionalism, Integrity and Ethics
• The National Health Policy commits to offer the highest professional standards, integrity and ethics 
that can be provided. It aims to maintain the same through the entire system of the health care 
delivery services everywhere with the support of a credible, transparent and responsible regulatory 
environment.
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Equity
• It is essential to reduce inequity to reach the poorest. This means that disparity based on account of 
gender, caste, poverty, disability and any other forms of social exclusions and geographical barriers 
must be removed entirely. This means that higher investments and financial protection for people 
who are poor and suffer from heavy medical conditions or diseases.
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Affordability
•  As costs of health care increases, affordability requires the utmost focus, as distinct from equity. 
Catastrophic household healthcare expenditures defined as health expenditures that exceed 10% of 
its total monthly consumption expenditures or 40% of its monthly non-food consumption 
expenditures are unacceptable.
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Accountability
• This includes financial and performance responsibility along with transparency in decision making and 
elimination of corruption in healthcare systems in both; public and private.
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