This policy denotes important change from very selective to comprehensive primary health care package which includes geriatric health care, palliative care and rehabilitative care services. The facilities which start providing the larger package of comprehensive primary health care will be called ‘Health and Wellness Centers.

The policy aspires to provide at the district level most of the secondary care which is currently provided at a medical college hospital. Basic secondary care services, such as caesarian section and neonatal care would be made available at the least at sub-divisional level in a cluster of few blocks.

Prevention of exclusions on social, economic, or on grounds of current health status. In this backdrop, systems and services are envisaged to be designed to cater to the entire population- including special groups

Assuring availability of free, comprehensive primary health care services, for all aspects of reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health and for the most prevalent communicable, non-communicable and occupational diseases in the population.

The policy strongly recommends strengthening of general health systems to prevent and manage maternal complications, to ensure continuity of care and emergency services for maternal health.

Women’s access to healthcare needs to be strengthened by making public hospitals more women-friendly and ensuring that the staff have orientation to gender–sensitivity issues. This policy notes with concern the serious and wide-ranging consequences of GBV and recommends that the healthcare to the survivors/victims need to be provided free and with dignity in the public and private sector.

The policy recommends strengthening the Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC) to offer good healthcare to the vulnerable sections of society like the marginalized, the socially excluded, the poor, the old and the disabled.