Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This can be achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious and non-infectious diseases. Public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighbourhood or an entire country.

As per the data available, Indian healthcare sector has grown at a nearly 16.5 percent CAGR since 2008 to become a $110 billion industry in 2016 and is expected to touch $280 billion by 2020. Over the years, Indian Healthcare scenario has shown great progress on several health indicators like life expectancy and maternal and child mortality. The year 2014 marked a remarkable moment in the Indian Public Healthcare system with the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring India a polio-free nation. India was only the fourth such region in the world after the Americas (1994), the Western Pacific Region (2000) and the European Region (2002). The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has significantly come down from 57 deaths per thousand live births in 2004 to 34 deaths in 2016. Life expectancy at birth during the same period increased from 63.80 years to 68.35 years. The significant progress made by the healthcare system in India is attributed to the combined efforts of the public and the private sector.

Regardless of the healthy-looking picture, healthcare system in India faces major social, economic and political challenges. Aiming to get over these challenges, government has launched several policies and missions in rural and urban areas. Some of them are Intellectual Disability-related Schemes (Vikaas, Samarth, Gharaunda, Niramaya, Sahyogi, Gyan Prabha, Prerna, Sambhav, Bhadte Kadam and Disha), Sarwa Shiksha Abhiyan, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), National Mission on Medicinal Plants, National AYUSH Mission, National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission), Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT), National Health Protection Mission (Ayushman Bharat Yojana/Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana—PMJAY) and most recent National Policy for Rare Diseases.

Main issues that the health systems facing is lack of financial funds, health workforce and a challenge of implementing pro-equity health policies in a multicultural environment. According to National Health Profile data, India’s investment in public health is just 1.28% of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is among the lowest of all countries in Asia. If we combine both public and private expenditure on healthcare, it is marely 3.6%. According to the World Bank, India ranks 24th in the world from the bottom. Countries like Afghanistan, Libya, Myanmar, Yemen and Sri Lanka having low economy then India spend more on healthcare. A huge investment is needed to uplift and promote a healthy lifestyle to prevent diseases, reinforce disease surveillance programs, and augment research capabilities in the country.

The major reasons why most of the healthcare policy commitments of the Indian Government have failed to translate into results have been inadequate budgetary allocation as well as lack of coordination between the centre and the states in the planning process, leading to inefficient spending.

 In India, we need to plan strategies with the aim to provide better health for all that can be implemented in all states, communities, professional organizations and other sectors. Expedite changes in resource allocation for public health involvements and a policy for concentrated intersectoral action, thereby enabling policy consonance. Investing in public health policies is, thus, not only a necessity but also a moral responsibility. A vigorous public health system is needed to protect populations from the risk and complications related to health, and to ensure impartiality and integrity so that everyone have unbiased access to good quality health services throughout the country.