17 AIIMS, 20 cancer treatment institutes to be opened: JP Nadda

"Over the next three to four years we intend to work towards comprehensive model for non-communicable diseases and a massive awareness drive was being planned for this," he said.

"With nearly 58 per cent of all healthcare expenditure being met through 'out of pocket expenditure' and nearly four crore people get impoverished on the account of healthcare expenditure, providing affordable healthcare of quality to all is one of the most important concerns before us," the Minister said.

Disparity in availability of healthcare facilities between rural and urban areas and between the states was also an issue.

Similarly, the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was another area of concern and there was need to focus on strengthening the primary healthcare system.

At the same time providing adequate facilities to secondary and tertiary healthcare was required to reduce the burden on citizens, Nadda said.

There was a need for more bed in government hospitals, also, patient load is much in excess of what the infrastructure is capable of handling and this was affecting the quality of care, he said.