India's Health Minister JP Nadda reviews nationwide expansion of Project SARATHI

Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda chaired a high‑level meeting in New Delhi on 1 August to assess expanding Project SARATHI, a youth‑volunteer patient‑assistance scheme, across central government hospitals and other medical institutions. The review included Labour, Employment and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Manasukh Mandaviya and examined the programme’s implementation at PGIMER, Chandigarh, where more than 2,500 volunteers have logged over 150,000 service hours. A study by the institute’s Community Medicine department reported a 26 % reduction in patient navigation time when volunteers provided non‑clinical support such as wheelchair assistance, guidance to diagnostics and help with ABHA ID creation.

The ministers discussed a scalable framework for nationwide rollout, integration with the My Bharat digital platform for volunteer registration, training and monitoring, and ways to institutionalise youth participation in public healthcare.