National Health Authority appoints Dr RK Patel and Dr Ambrish Mithal as domain experts on Governing Board

The government has appointed Dr RK Patel and Dr Ambrish Mithal as domain experts on the Governing Board of National Health Authority (NHA).

Dr Patel is Honorary Director of the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre, Ahmedabad and is currently holding the charge of Member Secretary of UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre since 2002. He has been a PhD guide in the subject of General Medicine and Cardiologist at Gujarat University and Cardiologist to Governor to Gujarat since 1995. In addition, he is a member of the Working Group on Medical Education to assist ‘The National Knowledge Commission’, Government of India for revolutionising education in India to bring it at par with international standards in 2007.

Dr Mithal, MD, DM, is heading the Endocrinology and Diabetes division at Medanta Hospital, Medicity, Gurugram, and has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 2015 and Dr B C Roy Award in 2017. Besides, in 2013, he won the Springer Citation Award for his paper on ‘Global Vitamin D status’ – Osteoporosis International, and in 2016, he was awarded the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) President’s Award for outstanding contribution to the IOF.

The Union Cabinet on 2nd January, 2019, had upgraded the National Health Agency into a new National Health Authority (NHA) to improve the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and to better regulate the constituents of the health insurance/assurance ecosystem.

The NHA is governed by a Governing Board comprising the Chair and 11 members. The Governing Board is the supreme decision-making authority of NHA responsible for all policy-related matters to PM-JAY and the authority.

As part of its constitution, two domain experts from the fields of administration, insurance, public and private health, healthcare providers, economics, public health, and management are to be included in the Board. Other members are CEO, NITI Aayog; Member Secretary (Expenditure), Ministry of Finance; Member Secretary (Health and Family Welfare); CEO, National Health Authority and five Principal Secretaries (Health) of the state governments on a rotational basis.