Need to Loosen the Politico-bureaucratic Stranglehold over the National Health Mission

National Health Mission (NHM), started in 2008, is a paradigm shift in public health system in India in terms of higher allocation, community involvement, setting standards. However, it is working suboptimally due to the politico-bureaucratic stranglehold. Increasing bureaucratization is seen in promotion of a top-down-one-size-fits-all model or introducing complexity in the system or making the processes more important than the ends. Politicization includes (re) naming for political gains and converting routine service into events. The oversight of the NHM is mainly political and bureaucratic. There is a need for strengthening technical leadership of NHM to fully realize its potential gains.