PM ABHIM - Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission

It was announced in the budget 2021-22 as Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swastha Bharat Yojana and was renamed as Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission in September 2021. It is the largest pan-India scheme for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across India which focuses on the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services.This scheme is in addition to the National Health Mission.

Aim/Objective

• The major aim is capacity building of health systems and institutions across the continuum of care system to respond effectively to the future pandemics and disasters.
• It aims to build an IT enabled disease surveillance system by developing a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels, in Metropolitan areas & strengthening health units at the Points of Entry, for effectively preventing and combating Public Health Emergencies and Disease Outbreaks.
• Health and Wellness Centres: It will provide support to more than 17000 rural Health and Wellness centres in 10 High Focus States and establish more than 11000 urban Health and Wellness centres in all the States.
• Integrated Public Labs: Integrated Public Health Labs in all districts will be setup to develop lab capacity in India so that states can conduct surveillance of epidemic prone diseases in a decentralized manner. Integrated Health Information Portal will be expanded to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs under the central sector component.
• Training and Mentoring: Twelve Central Institutions to be setup as training and mentoring sites.
• National Centre for Disease Control: will be strengthened with 5 New Regional NCDCs and 20 metropolitan health surveillance units.
• Mobile Hospitals: Two container based mobile hospitals will be setup that can be shifted quickly by rail or air to address a health emergency.
• New Institutions: National institution for One Health, National Institutes for Virology, a Regional Research Platform for WHO South East Asia Region and 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories will also be setup.