World Bank commits $1 billion to India for public healthcare infra

By financing of $1 billion, the World Bank will support India’s flagship Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), launched in October 2021.

The Centre and the World Bank have signed two complementary loans of $500 million each to support and enhance the country’s health sector development. Through this combined financing of $1 billion, the World Bank will support India’s flagship Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), launched in October 2021.

More About The GoI and World Bank Agreement:

The agreement was signed by Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Auguste Tano Kouamé, Country Director, India, World Bank.

Both the loans are from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), having a final maturity of 18.5 years, including a grace period of 5 years.

The Extent of Services through this agreement with the World Bank:

In addition to the national level interventions, one of the loans will prioritise health service delivery in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the World Bank said in a statement.

Significance of this agreement:

The two projects are supporting India’s decision to increase the resilience and preparedness of the country’s health systems against future pandemics. This will be of great benefit for the populations of the States participating in the projects and will generate positive spillovers for other States.

Key Things to Know About These Two programmes Financed by World Bank:

The $500-million Public Health System for Pandemic Preparedness Programme will support the government’s efforts to prepare the country’s surveillance system to be ready to detect and report “epidemics of potential international concern”, ensure rapid response, and prevent emergence of pathogens (and also detect pathogens including zoonotic diseases).
The $500-million Enhanced Health Service Delivery Programme will on the other hand, support government’s efforts to strengthen service delivery through a redesigned primary health care model (including improved household access to primary healthcare facilities), improve quality of care by supporting the National Quality Assurance Standards certification across health and wellness Centers, and transform health sector governance and accountability by strengthening implementation capacity, enhancing performance measurement and knowledge exchanges among states.