NITI Aayog holds Dialogue on Health System for New India - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

NITI Aayog holds Dialogue on Health System for New India.

Day-long deliberations on a fifteen year vision for the health sector.

The dialogue was the first in the series of NITI Aayog’s “Development Dialogues” that aims to facilitate multisectoral conversations on India’s developmental issues, which constitute a part of the country’s 15 Year Vision document.
The inaugural session was chaired by Dr Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog and included the participation of Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, MsPreeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Shri Alok Kumar, Adviser, NITI Aayog. Dr. SuwitWibulpolprasert, Global Health Advisor, Government of Thailand gave the keynote address detailing Thailand’s four-decade journey towards Universal Health Coverage.
“This dialogue is a sign that Health has taken center-stage of the policy narrative. We must move towards breaking silos between various stakeholders in the health space, remove fragmentation between various initiatives, and ensure convergence between various ministries and also between Centre and States. POSHAN Abhiyan and Ayushman Bharat can be an innovative model to view integrated health systems”, said Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, addressing the closing plenary of the dialogue.
The dialogue focused on strengthening and further building on the existing blocks for Health Systems for a New India and prioritized four critical health systems issues for discussion and debate. These included expanding resources for health through pooling existing funds; expanding the role of the government as a strategic purchaser from both public and private providers to improve quality of healthcare services; provision of equitable and integrated services; and leveraging technology as an enabler and aggregator.
The dialogue also deliberated convergence of fragmented building blocks of financing and service provision, with each reinforcing the other, and moving from programmatic or schematic approaches to a systemsapproach to healthcare.
The roll-out of the ambitious Ayushman Bharat was also hailed as a good opportunity to bring in systems thinking and de-fragmenting the various building blocks of healthcare systematically over time. Further, strengthening governance, policy and regulatory frameworks and institutions were deemed key to ensuring systemic transformation of the health sector for a new India.
There was broad consensus that the development of a health system for India can lead to the growth of a healthy and globally competitive healthcare insuranceand health service provision industry and more importantly, improved consumer experience and citizen trust in the healthcare system. Dr Paul emphasized that trust in the system will be key for building an efficient health system for a new India, which is inclusive, integrative and indigenous.
As Mr Kant stated in the inaugural plenary, it is time to bring the patient to the centre of the health care narrative and the time has come to evolve a world-class health system which is transformative and uniquely Indian.
It is estimated that if the required decisions in terms of creating a functioning Health system are taken, then it shall reduce adult deaths by up to 16% by 2030, thereby increasing economic growth up to 32%.
It is also estimated that breaking programmatic silos and integration of various schemes within a systems approach will lead to reduction in avoidable out-of-pocket expenses to about 45%of total health spending by 2030, preventing at least 1.5 millionadditional households to go below the poverty line due to illness and unaffordable health care.
The discussions were guided by analysis undertaken by well-known international experts from multilateral organisations, along with over 25 national and international experts from over six countries and 150 participants representing government, private sector, insurance companies, third party administrators, research and academia.
The analysis and insights highlight that investments in strengthening and building on the current mixed health system will reap social and economic dividend for India. (Source:pib)


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NITI Aayog holds Dialogue on Health System for New India.

Ahead of 2+2 dialogue, Indo-US homeland security officials discuss draft plan on six areas - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Ahead of 2+2 dialogue, Indo-US homeland security officials discuss draft plan on six areas.

Ahead of the maiden two-plus-two dialogue between India and the United States, top homeland security officials of the two countries have worked on a draft plan related to six areas, including anti-terror cooperation in intelligence sharing, terror financing and cyber security.

During the Indo-US Homeland Security Dialogue, held recently, senior officers deliberated on a draft work plan relating to the activities of the six sub-groups, an official privy to the development said Monday.

The six sub-groups formed under the Indo-US homeland security dialogue cover the areas of (i) Illicit finance, Illegal smuggling of cash, financial fraud and counterfeiting, (ii) cyber information, (iii) megacity policing and sharing of information among federal state and local partners, (iv) global supply chain, transportation, port, border and maritime security, (v) capacity building and (vi) technology upgradation.
Cooperation in matters related to counter terror initiatives and intelligence sharing were given stress during the recent meeting, the official said.
Both the sides agreed to work out the modalities to address these issues and agreed to maintain sustained interactions to enhance security cooperation between the two countries, another official said.
The Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry Rajni Sekhri Sibal while the US side was led by Deputy Under Secretary in the Department of Homeland Security, James McCament.
The Indo-US homeland security dialogue was launched in 2010 as the mechanism to a sequel to the signing of the India-US counter-terrorism initiative.
The maiden two-plus-two dialogue between India and the United States is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will be meeting their Indian counterparts, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to discuss enhancing America’s engagement with India on critical diplomatic and security priorities. (Source:rstv)


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Ahead of 2+2 dialogue, Indo-US homeland security officials discuss draft plan on six areas.

India’s first ‘2+2’ dialogue with US to take place in September: Nirmala Sitharaman - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India’s first ‘2+2’ dialogue with US to take place in September: Nirmala Sitharaman.

In the last week of June, the United States postponed its first ‘2+2’ dialogue with India, which is a meeting between the ministers for External Affairs and Defence and the US secretaries of state and defence, citing "unavoidable reasons".

India’s first 2+2 dialogue with the US, which was postponed this month, would now take place in the first week of September, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. Sitharaman said the agenda during the talks would be on developing and strengthening defence cooperation.
“The 2+2 dialogue with the US is to happen in the first week of September. The agenda will be to develop and strengthen strategic defence cooperation and to follow-on with what had transpired during the meeting with US defence secretary Jim Mattis,” ANI quoted Sitharaman as saying.
In the last week of June, the United States of America postponed its first ‘2+2’ dialogue with India, which is a meeting between the ministers for External Affairs and Defence and the US secretaries of state and defence, citing “unavoidable reasons”. Under the arrangement, Sitharaman and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj were to meet US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.
However, the US offered to host Sitharaman in Washington DC in the first week of July in line with the original plan but the recommendation was declined by India. The “2+2” dialogue is meant to replace the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue between the foreign and commerce ministers of the two countries that was held during the previous Obama administration. While neither side had specified any official reason for the postponement, it was believed that Pompeo’s unscheduled visit to North Korea was the cause. The delay had led to several speculations doing the rounds that US was apparently not happy with India going ahead with its plan to buy S-400 missiles from Russia, which falls under the category of equipment targeted under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). However, US officials had made it clear that the postponement had nothing to do with bilateral issues or policy issues pertaining to Iran or Russia.


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India’s first ‘2+2’ dialogue with US to take place in September: Nirmala Sitharaman.