Treating Healthcare as a Service Is Key to Accessibility and Affordability, Says Mandaviya at World Health Summit

New Delhi, April 29, 2025 – Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has called for a paradigm shift in the Indian healthcare sector, urging policymakers and stakeholders to treat healthcare as a service rather than a business. Speaking at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting in New Delhi, Mandaviya emphasized that this approach is crucial for making healthcare both affordable and accessible to every citizen.

“For the world, health may be commerce, but for India, it is service. To make health accessible, we must make it affordable – and that begins by treating it as a service, not a business. When service, not profit, drives healthcare, it reaches the last mile,” Mandaviya stated. The minister, who previously served as Union Minister of Health, addressed a gathering of health experts, policymakers, and industry leaders at the summit, which focused on the theme “Scaling Access to Ensure Health Equity.”

The event, hosted by the National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in collaboration with Ashoka University and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, highlighted India’s ongoing efforts to democratize healthcare. Inaugurating the summit, Anurag Thakur, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), noted, “In a world where quality healthcare often remains a privilege, India, with over 1.43 billion people, has made bold strides to democratize healthcare – moving from selective interventions to a citizen-centric model rooted in financial protection and primary care. As we aim to become a developed nation by 2047, healthcare will remain central to our journey.”

Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa and former CEO of NITI Aayog, echoed these sentiments, projecting robust economic growth fueled by improvements in health and human development. “India will grow from a $4 trillion to a $30 trillion economy by 2047, driven by human development and better quality of life – with health at its core. This is not just India’s digital decade; it’s India’s health decade,” Kant remarked.

The summit also spotlighted the transformative role of digital health and next-generation technologies. Dr. Anurag Agrawal, Dean of BioSciences at Ashoka University, highlighted the importance of digital health and artificial intelligence in reaching underserved populations. “However, significant gaps still persist in India and across South Asia. We need to address these gaps, foster collaboration, and identify scalable solutions to improve health outcomes for all,” he said during a panel discussion on digital health service accreditation.

The consensus among speakers was clear: treating healthcare as a service is fundamental to achieving universal health coverage and ensuring that no citizen is left behind.

Disclaimer:
This article is based on publicly available information from the Economic Times HealthWorld report titled “Treating Healthcare as a Service Is Key to Accessibility and Affordability: Mandaviya” (April 2025). The content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or policy advice. For more details, please refer to the original source here.