NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Saturday said under the Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), the Union government has sanctioned 631 Critical Care Blocks (CCBs) across states and Union Territories, thus creating a nationwide network of critical-care capacity.
Stating that PM-ABHIM represents a fundamental shift in India's approach to public health infrastructure, he said that the objective is not merely to build more facilities, but to create a health system that is prepared, connected, resilient and capable of responding to future health emergencies.
Speaking at the inauguration of CCBs and 12 Integrated Public Health Laboratories (IPHLs) in Andhra Pradesh, he said these facilities represent two essential dimensions of a resilient health system - the capacity to save lives when a patient is critically ill, and the capacity to detect and respond to disease threats before they become major public health emergencies.
Nadda said the Union government's vision under PM-ABHIM extends beyond tertiary hospitals and encompasses all levels of healthcare.
At the grassroots level, there are Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, which bring comprehensive primary healthcare closer to communities.
While strengthened PHCs and CHCs provide referral and secondary care, CCBs provide advanced emergency and intensive care at the district level, and IPHLs provide diagnostic and surveillance capacity.
“Together, these components create a continuum of care and public health preparedness,” he said in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Minister for Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education, Andhra Pradesh, Satya Kumar Yadav, along with several MPs, MLAs and councillors, healthcare professionals and others.
“We are moving from a hospital-centric approach to a health-system approach,” the minister said.
Recalling the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nadda said the crisis demonstrated how quickly a health emergency can become an economic, social, livelihood and ultimately a national emergency.
“COVID-19 taught us that health security is national security,” he said, adding that the pandemic also highlighted the need to ensure that health infrastructure can withstand emergencies without disrupting routine healthcare services.
He noted that during the pandemic, regular hospital infrastructure had to be converted into isolation and COVID-care facilities, affecting the delivery of several non-COVID essential health services.
Nadda said PM-ABHIM was conceived against this background, with the objective of strengthening the health system's ability to respond to future pandemics and public health emergencies while ensuring continuity of routine healthcare.
“The lesson from COVID-19 was very clear, We cannot fight a health emergency effectively if we cannot detect it early,” he said, as he described laboratory capacity as more than a diagnostic service, calling it “a component of national health security.”
On the health facilities that were inaugurated in the state, he said that they mark an important step towards strengthening public health preparedness and health-security architecture in Andhra Pradesh and across the country.
He said they were “not simply an infrastructure inauguration, but an important step towards building a stronger health security architecture for Andhra Pradesh and the nation.”
“We can no longer think of hospitals only in terms of the number of beds,” he said, adding that “a resilient health system must have critical-care capacity, oxygen and medical-gas systems, isolation facilities, trained manpower, laboratory capacity and the ability to detect outbreaks early while maintaining routine health services.”
For Andhra Pradesh, the Union Government has approved ₹1,271.80 crore for the five-year scheme period under four key components - CCBs, IPHL, Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and Rural Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
Under PM-ABHIM, 24 CCBs have been sanctioned in Andhra Pradesh, with an estimated investment of approximately ₹606 crore, while 26 IPHLs have been sanctioned for the state with an allocation of ₹32.50 crore.
Civil works of all 26 IPHLs have been completed; 14 are already functional and the remaining 12 are ready for inauguration.
Nadda said this reflects the government's comprehensive approach to strengthening healthcare from the community level to district and tertiary-care facilities.
These have been planned across government medical colleges, district hospitals and area hospitals.
Emphasising the importance of timely access to advanced care, the Union Health Minister said, “Critical care must be available close to the community.”
He said the transformation of India's health sector must be seen in the context of the National Health Policy, 2017, which marked an important shift towards a preventive, promotive and comprehensive approach to healthcare.
He said that prior to 2017, the focus was largely on preventive healthcare, while the approach thereafter has been to develop a strong linkage between preventive, primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare.
“We have tried to develop a strong linkage between preventive, secondary and tertiary healthcare so that healthcare becomes comprehensive and people-centric,” he said.
He added that this approach has resulted in the creation of a more integrated healthcare framework, with simultaneous strengthening of primary and secondary healthcare and expansion of tertiary healthcare institutions.
India has over 1.75 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, which bring comprehensive primary healthcare closer to people's doorsteps. These centres provide a range of services, including screening for diabetes and hypertension, antenatal check-ups, immunisation and other preventive and promotive healthcare services.
He said more than 42 crore people have been screened for diabetes and hypertension, over 36 crore for oral cancer, more than 17 crore women for breast cancer and over 9 crore women for cervical cancer.
He also highlighted the introduction of the HPV vaccine as an important step towards strengthening preventive healthcare and protecting future generations from cervical cancer.
Nadda highlighted the strengthening of India's immunisation programme through digital technology.
India is administering 12 vaccines from birth up to the age of 16 years, with vaccination records being digitally tracked through U-WIN, which enables digital recording of vaccinations and helps ensure that children and pregnant women receive their due vaccines on time.
Highlighting the broader outcomes of India's health-system transformation, Nadda said institutional deliveries have reached over 90 per cent in 2023-24.
He noted that India's maternal mortality ratio has declined by 86 per cent, compared to a global decline of 48 per cent, while under-five mortality has declined by 79 per cent compared to a global decline of 61 per cent.
Neonatal mortality has declined by 70 per cent, against a global decline of 54 per cent.
Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2025 report, he said India's TB incidence has declined by 25 per cent compared to a global decline of 12 per cent, while treatment coverage for TB has crossed 90 per cent.
Nadda said the decline in out-of-pocket expenditure to 43.4 per cent is also an important indicator of the increasing financial protection being provided to citizens.
He added that the country's health infrastructure has expanded significantly, with 16 new AIIMS being established in a span of just 12 years, taking the total number of AIIMS in the country to 23.
Praising Andhra Pradesh's Sanjeevani programme for taking healthcare to people’s doorsteps and facilitating testing for 41 health parameters, he said the state's innovative approach to bringing screening and healthcare services closer to communities.
"Such initiatives provide valuable models for strengthening primary healthcare," he said, and expressed interest in examining the potential of replicating the Sanjeevani model at the national level.
"Andhra Pradesh has an important role to play in India's health transformation and the experience and best practices emerging from the state can contribute to the larger national effort to strengthen public health," he added.