India is set to increase its public health spending to 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, asserting that women, children and the youth will continue to
remain at the heart of every policy, programme and initiative of the government.
Addressing the 2018 Partners’ Forum here, Modi said the high out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by families to
avail medical care in India worried his government and to address the issue, it launched the Ayushman Bharat
Yojana, which has a two-fold strategy.

The community will also be able to receive free screening and care for common diseases including hyper-
tension, diabetes and three common cancers — of breast, cervix and oral.The patients will receive free medicines

and diagnostic support close to their homes, he said.
At the event, Modi said the government is set to increase its spending on public health to 2.5 per cent of the
GDP. As of now, the country spends 1.15 per cent of the GDP on health.
Modi said that to deal with the issue of malnutrition among children, the government has launched “POSHAN
Abhiyan” and is also implementing “Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram”, which has provided 800 million health
screening check-ups and free referral treatment to 20 million children in the last four years.

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