Boosting the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme by extending coverage to people aged 70 and above and launching of the U-WIN portal to digitise vaccinations of pregnant women and children stood out among the key initiatives of the health ministry in 2024, a year which was free from the Covid shadow.
The RG Kar rape-murder case of West Bengal prompted the health ministry to devote considerable attention towards addressing the gaps in medical infrastructure, improving working conditions of healthcare workers and ensuring their security on hospital campuses amid demands from doctors across the country for a central law to deal with violence against healthcare professionals.
There was a change at the helm in the health ministry after the elections with Mansukh Mandaviya making way for J P Nadda who took charge for the second time. His previous stint was in the Narendra Modi government’s first term (from November 9, 2014 to May 30, 2019) before he took over as the BJP’s working president in 2019.
