About HWC

Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres

Ayushman Bharat (AB) is an attempt to move from a selective approach to health care to deliver comprehensive range of services spanning preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care. It has two components which are complementary to each other. Under its first component, 1,50,000 Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) will be created to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care, that is universal and free to users, with a focus on wellness and the delivery of an expanded range of services closer to the community. The second component is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) which provides health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per year to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families for seeking secondary and tertiary care.

HWC are envisaged to deliver expanded range services that go beyond Maternal and child health care services to include care for non -communicable diseases, palliative and rehabilitative care, Oral, Eye and ENT care, mental health and first level care for emergencies and trauma , including free essential drugs and diagnostic services

Expanded range of services

The expansion of services has been planned in incremental manner. As a first step, Screening, Prevention, Control and Management of Non-communicable Diseases and Chronic Communicable diseases like Tuberculosis and Leprosy has been introduced at HWCs.

1. Care in pregnancy and childbirth.
2. Neonatal and infant health care services
3. Childhood and adolescent health care services.
4. Family planning, Contraceptive services and Other Reproductive Health Care services
5. Management of Communicable diseases: National Health Programs
6. Management of Common Communicable Diseases and General Out-patient care for acute simple illnesses and minor ailments
7. Screening, Prevention, Control and Management of Non-Communicable diseases and chronic communicable disease like TB and Leprosy
8. Basic Oral health care
9. Care for Common Ophthalmic and ENT problems
10. Elderly and Palliative health care services
11. Emergency Medical Services
12. Screening and Basic management of Mental health ailment

Key Components

The delivery of CPHC through HWCs involve is complex task as it requires a paradigm shift at all levels of health systems. The operationalization of HWCs requires several inputs

Key Milestones

The first HWC was launched in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh on April 18th, 2018. In the first year, over 17,000 HWCs were operationalized, more than the target of 15,000 set for FY 2018-19.

Roll out plan

Given the magnitude of inputs required to strengthen the primary health care facilities, the operationalization of HWC has been planned in a phased manner till the year 2022.