NEW DELHI:
The Union Cabinet on approved the restructuring of the National Health Agency, which was formed last year to implement government’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, as an Authority — giving it more powers and autonomy. With this approval, the existing society of “National Health Agency” has been dissolved and will be replaced by the National Health Authority as an attached office with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
The existing multi-tier decision-making structure has now been replaced with the Governing Board, chaired by the Health Minister. This will enable faster decision-making required for smooth implementation of the scheme, a statement by the government said.
The composition of the board is broad-based with due representations from the government, the Niti Aayog and domain experts. Also, states will be represented on the board on a rotational basis and at any given time, principal secretaries (health) of five states will be on the board. The CEO of the Authority, however, will have many executive powers. No new funds have been approved and the existing budget that was approved earlier by the Cabinet for the National Health Agency.
