Indu Bhushan is a former Indian bureaucrat and economist. He was the first CEO of Ayushman Bharat, an Indian government agency providing national healthcare coverage to the low-income population of the country.

Education and career

In 1983 Bhushan received

B.Tech A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of studi ...

from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU) and Postgraduate Diploma from the

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

. Bhushan graduated with a doctorate in economics and a master's degree in health science from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. From 1983-92, Bhushan served as an

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

officer in the Rajasthan cadre before taking voluntary retirement. From 1994-96 he was with the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. Bhushan held various appointments at the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

from 1997. In 2018 he accepted an appointment as CEO of Ayushman Bharat, an Indian government agency providing national healthcare coverage.

Ayushman Bharat Yojana

In his role as CEO Ayushman Bharat, various media outlets have interviewed Bhushan about his plans for addressing the challenges which the Indian government faces in providing health care. Bhushan said that the biggest difficulty for implementing Ayushman Bharat was rapidly increasing the number of available hospital beds in rural areas without greatly increasing the government's cost per bed. At a talk hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Bhushan gave the opinion that the Indian government should increase its investment in healthcare. He also described that India could greatly advance its efficiency in healthcare through digital reform after the model of India adopting financial technology to improve finance in India. He emphasized that

medical privacy Medical privacy or health privacy is the practice of maintaining the security and confidentiality of patient records. It involves both the conversational discretion of health care providers and the security of medical records. The terms can also r ...

for patients has to be secure for any health data. He compared the privacy and security of the Unified Payments Interface for his own plans in medicine through the National Digital Health Mission. A year into running the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Bhushan again spoke of personal privacy in an interview. In another interview he described heavily he relied on technological development to achieve goals, while again stating the need for privacy.

Recognition

In 2020, Bhushan received the Global Achievement Award from the

alumni association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students (alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools (especially independent schools), ...

, where he was a student.

Family life

Indu Bhushan is married to Anjana Bhushan, a public health professional with expertise in human rights and gender, who currently works at the World Health Organization. They have two daughters: Ambika Bhushan and Devika Bhushan, both physicians trained at Harvard Medical School. Devika Bhushan has served as Acting California Surgeon General.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhushan, Indu Indian Administrative Service officers 1961 births Living people IIT Delhi alumni