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Ministry

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the Government of India's apex department for public health. It runs national disease and immunisation programmes, funds the state-delivered National Health Mission, and owns the Ayushman Bharat architecture — the world's largest government health-assurance scheme. Working through two departments and bodies such as the National Health Authority and the Indian Council of Medical Research, it is the institution that sets India's health policy and steers its pandemic response.

Updated

Headquarters
Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi
Departments
2 (Health & Family Welfare; Health Research)
Budget 2026-27
₹1,06,530 crore
Flagship
Ayushman Bharat (world's largest health-assurance scheme)
Coverage since 194721 recorded events ·95% from official & primary sources
1945–1949: 1 event1950196019701980199020002005–2009: 2 events2010–2014: 2 events20102015–2019: 3 events2020–2024: 7 events20202025–2026: 6 events

Role

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sets national health policy and runs the programmes that sit above India’s state-delivered health systems. Health is constitutionally a state subject, so the Union ministry works mostly through money and standards: it co-funds the National Health Mission with the states, runs national disease-control and immunisation programmes, regulates drugs through the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, sets medical- education norms via the National Medical Commission, and funds biomedical research through the Indian Council of Medical Research. It operates through two departments — Health and Family Welfare, and Health Research.

Its largest single undertaking is Ayushman Bharat, the umbrella under which the National Health Authority runs the PM-JAY insurance scheme, the network of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs for primary care, and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. The ministry is also the government’s lead institution for epidemic surveillance and pandemic response, a role tested severely during COVID-19 and central to India’s engagement with the World Health Organization’s pandemic- preparedness framework.

Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.

Timeline since 1947

  1. reference

    Ministry of Health constituted

    Health became a Union portfolio at independence, later expanded to Health and Family Welfare.

    source 1

  2. reference

    National Rural Health Mission launched

    The flagship programme to strengthen rural public-health systems, later folded into the National Health Mission.

    source 1

  3. reference

    Department of Health Research created

    A second department was carved out to house biomedical research, with the Indian Council of Medical Research under it.

    source 1

  4. reference

    NRHM subsumed into the National Health Mission alongside a new urban sub-mission

    The National Urban Health Mission was added as a sub-mission and the rural mission was rechristened, giving the ministry a single umbrella — the National Health Mission — through which it co-funds state health systems in both rural and urban India.

    source 1

  5. reference

    AYUSH separated into its own ministry

    Traditional-medicine systems (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) were moved out into a standalone Ministry of AYUSH.

    source 1

  6. reference

    National Health Policy 2017 adopted

    Set a target of raising public health spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025 — a target that remained unmet as of the mid-2020s, with combined central and state government health spending around 1.8% of GDP in 2021-22 per PRS Legislative Research.

    source 1

  7. reference

    Ayushman Bharat launched

    The first Health and Wellness Centre opened in April and PM-JAY, the ₹5-lakh insurance cover, launched in September 2018.

    source 1

  8. official

    National Medical Commission Act, 2019 replaces the Medical Council of India

    Act 30 of 2019 dissolved the Medical Council of India and created the National Medical Commission with four autonomous boards, transferring medical-education standards, licensing and college permissions to a nominated statutory commission under the ministry.

    source 1

  9. analysis

    COVID-19 second wave and oxygen crisis

    The March–May 2021 wave overwhelmed hospital and medical-oxygen supply chains, driving later investment in oxygen and hospital infrastructure.

    source 1

  10. official

    Pan-India COVID-19 vaccination rollout begins

    The nationwide vaccination drive was launched on 16 January 2021, run through the ministry's programme machinery; by the 2021-24 reporting period the ministry recorded about 220 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered under the National Health Mission.

    source 1source 2

  11. official

    Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission launched nationwide

    The ministry stood up a unified digital health layer — health IDs, registries and electronic health records intended to interoperate across providers — placing it under the National Health Authority alongside PM-JAY.

    source 1source 2

  12. official

    PM-ABHIM created with a ₹64,180 crore health-infrastructure outlay

    The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission was set up as a centrally sponsored scheme with some central-sector components, carrying an outlay of ₹64,180 crore for 2021-22 to 2025-26 for block public health units, integrated public health laboratories and critical care hospital blocks.

    source 1

  13. official

    National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission begins screening

    The ministry launched a national screening mission for sickle cell anaemia in tribal and high-burden districts; it reported over 2.61 crore individuals screened in the 2021-24 National Health Mission review period.

    source 1

  14. official

    U-WIN piloted to digitise routine immunisation records

    Built on the Co-WIN stack, U-WIN was piloted to track every routine immunisation event for pregnant women and children nationally — extending pandemic-era digital registry infrastructure into the Universal Immunisation Programme.

    source 1

  15. official

    Cabinet approves PM-JAY cover for all aged 70 and above

    On 11 September 2024 the Union Cabinet approved ₹5-lakh cover for all seniors aged 70+ irrespective of income, to be issued via a new distinct card (later launched as the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card).

    source 1

  16. official

    Medical colleges reported doubled since 2014, from 387 to 780

    The ministry told Parliament that undergraduate medical seats rose from 51,348 to 1,15,900 and postgraduate seats from 31,185 to 74,306 over the same period — the sharpest expansion of medical-education capacity the ministry has regulated.

    source 1

  17. official

    PMSSY tertiary-care build-out reaches 22 new AIIMS and 75 college upgrades

    Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana the ministry reported establishing 22 new AIIMS and upgrading 75 government medical colleges to close regional gaps in tertiary care and medical education.

    source 1

  18. official

    Cabinet apprised of National Health Mission achievements for 2021-24

    The ministry reported engaging over 12 lakh additional healthcare workers under NHM between FY 2021-24, about 220 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, and 1.72 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs operational by FY 2023-24.

    source 1

  19. official

    TB incidence reported down from 237 to 195 per lakh between 2015 and 2023

    In the same NHM review the ministry reported TB mortality falling from 28 to 22 per lakh over 2015-2023, with 1.56 lakh Ni-kshay Mitra volunteers supporting over 9.4 lakh patients under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.

    source 1

  20. official

    1,77,906 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs reported operational

    As of 30 June 2025 the ministry reported 1,77,906 sub-health centres and primary health centres upgraded into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs delivering 12 free comprehensive primary-care service packages.

    source 1

  21. official

    Union Budget 2026-27 allocation of ₹1.06 lakh crore

    The ministry was allocated ₹1,06,530.42 crore, about 10% above the revised estimates of 2025-26.

    source 1

Frequently asked

What is Ministry of Health and Family Welfare?
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the Government of India's apex department for public health. It runs national disease and immunisation programmes, funds the state-delivered National Health Mission, and owns the Ayushman Bharat architecture — the world's largest government health-assurance scheme. Working through two departments and bodies such as the National Health Authority and the Indian Council of Medical Research, it is the institution that sets India's health policy and steers its pandemic response.
When was Ministry of Health and Family Welfare established?
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was established 1947.
What does Ministry of Health and Family Welfare do?
Its remit covers National health policy and disease-control programmes, The National Health Mission (funding state health systems), Ayushman Bharat — PM-JAY insurance, Arogya Mandirs, the Digital Mission, Medical education and professional regulation (via the National Medical Commission), Drug regulation (CDSCO) and biomedical research (ICMR), Epidemic surveillance and pandemic preparedness.
What is the latest on Ministry of Health and Family Welfare?
As of 2026-07-05: Union Budget 2026-27 allocation of ₹1.06 lakh crore. The ministry was allocated ₹1,06,530.42 crore, about 10% above the revised estimates of 2025-26.

Official sources

The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.

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