Harsh Vardhan, member of the Lok Sabha from Delhi's Chandni Chowk, assumed charge as Union health minister on Tuesday.
Vardhan, an ENT (ear, nose and tongue) doctor, has been a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activist in Delhi since 1993 when he entered the party.
Vardhan was the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the previous Assembly election. He has been a four-term president of the BJP's Delhi unit. Best known for his Pulse Polio programme, which he started in Delhi during his tenure as city-state's health minister in 1994, Vardhan said he wanted to focus on preventive health care. He said the new government would work towards developing a national health insurance policy.
"I am not in favour of taxpayers' money being used to push a one-size-fits-all health policy. From this morning itself, I have started contacting public health practitioners to know their minds on what should be the road ahead," Vardhan said, adding he would frame policies in consultation with international health agencies.
Vardhan, who met health ministry officials in an almost two-hour meeting before heading for a Cabinet meet, also emphasised on bringing in transparency in the ministry. He said the ministry would soon put in place e-governance systems in all interfaces between the government and citizens and that with businesses.
The health ministry has also been the centre of various controversies, with some of its key officials facing differences with the outgoing minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Expressing concerns over the way the Reproductive and Child Health Project, the National TB Control Programme and National Disease Control Programme had been under-funded, Vardhan assured he would contemplate ways to revitalise these programmes.
With a significant focus on health care, BJP's manifesto talked about streamlining government departments in the health care sector, possibility of an "overarching lean body" to regulate it, a comprehensive health care policy to bring down out of pocket expenditure and need for radical reform of the National Rural Health Mission.
Vardhan, who defeated former Law Minister Kapil Sibal in the Lok Sabha elections, has never lost an election to the Assembly. He has served in various capacities in the state cabinet during BJP's reign (1993-98), including Health Minister, Law Minister and Education Minister.
Though media reports suggest health ministry might be a temporary halt for Vardhan if BJP decides to move with him as the face for Delhi Assembly elections, Vardhan's current portfolio is also likely to assume more importance going forward, as there are possibilities that Department of Pharma, currently under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, might be merged into the health ministry.
