Universal Health Care in India

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.

Objectives of Universal Health Care

• Equity in access to health services - everyone who needs services should get them, not only those who can pay for them.
• The quality of health services should be good enough to improve the health of those receiving services.
• People should be protected against financial-risk, ensuring that the cost of using services does not put people at risk of financial harm.
• India’s current program of universal health coverage aims to provide reasonable access to health care for its 1.3 billion populations.
• Government of India and the State Governments have the general obligation to provide free and universal access to the health-care services and ensure that there shall not be any denial of health-care directly or indirectly to anyone, by any health-care service provider, public or private, by laying down minimum standards and appropriate regulatory mechanism.

Indicators of Universal Health Coverage

World Health Organization (WHO) uses 16 essential health services in 4 categories as indicators of the level and equity of coverage in countries.