Govt focus remains on building accessible, affordable, and quality-driven healthcare system for every citizen: Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, GoI
October 09, 2025
Beyond healthcare, need to address senior citizens issues of loneliness and digital literacy, ensuring financial and personal safety: Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, GoI
Thematic sessions, BRICS Women’s Healthcare Working Group, and Healthcare Excellence Awards highlight leadership, innovation, and collaboration
NEW DELHI, 09 October 2025: Ms Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of India yesterday said that the government has been consistently working to strengthen the continuum of care—from primary to tertiary levels—under the Ayushman Bharat framework. Through over 1.79 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, we are ensuring comprehensive primary care, while initiatives like the PM-ABHIM address infrastructure gaps across health facilities, she added.
Addressing the Day-1 of FICCI HEAL 2025, Ms Srivastava stated that our efforts under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission aim to integrate these layers by creating a seamless digital health ecosystem through ABHA accounts. “The challenge now is to bring more healthcare providers on board and expand this network. With investment in health infrastructure rising from ₹24,000 crore to ₹60,000 crore, our focus remains on building an accessible, affordable, and quality-driven healthcare system for every citizen,” she emphasized.
Mr Amit Yadav, Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India said, “Our department is mandated to safeguard the wellbeing of senior citizens and create an inclusive, secure environment for them. As we work towards updating policies for the elderly, our focus must be on healthy ageing — physical, mental, and emotional. Ageing well is shaped by how one lives across the lifespan, not just after sixty. Beyond healthcare, we must address issues of loneliness and digital literacy, ensuring financial and personal safety. The aim is to enable our senior citizens to age with dignity, security, and continued participation in their families and communities.”
Dr Anupam Sibal, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “In the last seven decades, India’s healthcare story has been one of remarkable transformation. Life expectancy has risen from 32 to 72 years, and infant mortality has fallen dramatically. Initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission have redefined access—1.7 lakh Arogya Mandirs, 42 crore Ayushman cards, and over 7 crore teleconsultations have brought healthcare to the last mile. Technology is also reshaping how we deliver care, from digital health platforms to a 58-fold increase in cardiac interventions. These numbers reflect not just progress, but the collective commitment of an entire ecosystem working towards quality, equitable healthcare for every Indian.”
Industry stalwarts examined frameworks for value-driven, patient centric healthcare in a plenary titled True Accountable Care. Convened by Dr Anupam Sibal and chaired by Ms Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, MoHFW, with moderation by Mr Kaivaan Movdawalla, EY-Parthenon, the session explored integrating quality and cost-efficiency, leveraging outcome data, and enabling government and payor support for accountable care. Key insights came from Mr Chakravarthy T Kannan, Mr Himanshu Baid, Dr Bishnu Panigrahi, Dr Uthappa P M, and Dr Monika Puri.
The plenary also discussed a report conducted by EY-Parthenon that included a nationwide survey of 250 hospitals in 40 cities with 75,000 beds, surveys of 1,000+ patients and 100+ clinicians and consultations with 70+ CXOs, senior clinicians, administrators and investors. The insights gathered reinforce the need for a national framework that sets clear minimum quality standards which will enable patients to make informed healthcare choices while allowing providers the flexibility to innovate and improve. The report titled ‘True Accountable Care: Maximizing Healthcare Delivery Impact, Efficiently’, will be unveiled on Day 2 of the FICCI Heal conference and outline a pragmatic roadmap for India’s healthcare system to balance quality with access and affordability.
The Vision Talk on Transforming Primary Healthcare for Bharat highlighted bold partnerships and scalable solutions to address systemic challenges in maternal and child health, NCDs, and infectious diseases. Convened by (Hony) Brig Dr Arvind Lal, with special remarks from Ms Aradhana Patnaik, NHM, the session featured discussions on innovative delivery models, public-private collaborations, and community-led interventions.
During the Panel on Active and Healthy Ageing, experts addressed India’s demographic shift and strategies to enable older adults to remain contributors to society. Convened and moderated by Ms Malti Jaswal, and chaired by Mr Amit Yadav, Secretary, Dept. of Social Justice and Empowerment, panelists included Dr Arun Agarwal, Mr Jaydeep Biswas, Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Dr Suneela Garg, and Dr Sameer Gupta, exploring preventive health, mental well-being, lifelong learning, and digital inclusion.
A parallel BRICS Women’s Business Alliance Healthcare Working Group session focused on tackling NCDs and closing gender disparities across BRICS nations. Chaired by Ms Malti Sachdev and moderated by Ms Srimayee Chakraborty, EY Parthenon, speakers from Russia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Iran, and India shared best practices for equitable healthcare access and innovation-driven interventions.
The day concluded with the FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards 2025. Mr Rajiv Gauba, Member, NITI Aayog and Former Cabinet Secretary, Government of India, graced the ceremony as Chief Guest. The first day of FICCI HEAL 2025 set a compelling agenda for collaboration, innovation, and evidence-based action, paving the way for continued discussions and deliberations throughout the conference.