US exiting WHO won't impact projects in India: Health Minister J P Nadda

New Delhi: Union Health Minister J P Nadda said Tuesday the US announcing to exit the World Health Organization (WHO) will not impact the programmes going on India in partnership with the global agency.

"Our projects and programmes will continue. As far as health is concerned, we are not dependent on anybody," he told a press conference on the progress made in the last 10 years under the National Health Mission (NHM).

"There are many programmes where WHO partners with us and there will be no disruption. India is one of the major contributors to the WHO," he said.

Listing out the achievements made under the NHM in the last 10 years, Nadda said some new initiatives -- like National Sickle Cell Anaemia Mission and Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP) -- were added after 2014 while many other initiatives have been reinvigorated such as the National TB Elimination Programme, Mission Indradhanush (MI) etc.

The share of central release under the NHM has seen a 185 per cent growth since 2014, he said.

Health is a priority area and finance for this sector has never been an issue for the various programmes run by the Central government, Nadda said, ahead of the Union Budget announcement scheduled for this Saturday.

There is a shift from curative healthcare to preventive, curative, rehabilitative healthcare in order to provide comprehensive healthcare services, he said.

The annual footfall in Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAM) has increased from 13.49 crore in 2019-20 to 121.03 crore in 2023-24, he said.

Teleconsultations has increased from 26 lakhs to 11.83 crore in the same period, he said.

Free drugs and diagnostics service initiative has been enhanced and it is made mandatory for institutions to display the number of drugs available, he said, adding the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme has benefited over 4.53 lakh patients in FY 2023-24.

At the conference Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said the Central government may roll out the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer as a pilot project in the next few months.

"The modalities and strategies are being worked out,'' she said.