Head Office
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi 110011
Customer Service
Phone: 1800-180-1104 (health helpline)
Phone: +91-011-23061831 (Public Grievance Officer)
Email: dghs@nic.in (Directorate General of Health Services)
Email: hfm@gov.in (Minister of Health)
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About Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in India is the central authority responsible for administration of health care and public health protection. Formed in the year 1976, the executive agency is made up of two departments – the Department of Health & Family Welfare and Department of Health Research. They are each headed by a Secretary. In 2014, a separate ministry called Ministry of AYUSH was established to manage alternative medicine systems. AYUSH is short for Ayurveda, Yoga/Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy.
Headquartered at New Delhi, the Ministry of Health was established to check the effective delivery of health services, provide proactive leadership to the sector and ensure organisations and institutions conform to standards of safety. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) which has offices spread across the country provides advice on health matters and is involved in the implementation of health services. The state health societies and state departments can be located across all major states. They are responsible for planning and implementation of maternal, child health and family welfare services in the respective state. There is a directory available on the website with details of the state agencies.
For an overview of the organisation and sub-bodies, the popular autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Health include the AIIMS, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Indian Nursing Council, Pharmacy Council of India, National Board of Examination, Kasturba Health Society, FSSAI, Indian Red Cross Society, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, New Delhi Tuberculosis Centre, and Indian Council of Medical Research. You can visit the website for an overview, or to access schemes, documents and reports of a specific department.
There are several departments under health and family care. You have Bureau of Planning, Cancer Control Programme, Blindness Control, Medical Education, Immunization, Medical Tourism, Mental Health Division, NGO Division, NGM Finance, NUHM, Dental, Nursing, and Allied Health Sciences. As for the major programmes, you have the National Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, Health Melas, UIP, Dept of AIDS Control, National Mental Health Programme, National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness, Pulse Polio Programme, to name a few.
For public grievances and complaints, you can approach the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances. You can file a report on the portal here. Grievances received by the department are forwarded to the respective ministry or department. The grievance is acknowledged online or by post. You can track the status through the unique registration number.
