Shri Naveen Kumar, IAS is serving as Special Secretary of Health, overseeing the complete digitization of all operations in government health facilities. He has vast experience in managing complex IT projects and unites an array of stakeholders. – from local leaders to state and national government representatives and NGOs – to deliver on innovative new programs. As the founding Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Medical Supplies Corporation (India’s largest pharmaceutical and medical equipment and procurement & supply company serving 4,000+ health facilities), he set up the organisational, operational, and human resources within four months, implementing a $240 million procurement budget. He also served as Special Secretary in the IT and Electronics Department, implementing citizen-centric services. Shri Naveen Kumar has received multiple awards in recognition of contributions to public service, including the prestigious SKOCH award in 2016.

In this interview, he answered the following questions:

1. Access to healthcare is an important tenet to universal health coverage, which is also a part of SDGs. What are some innovative avenues that you have adopted to enhance access to healthcare?
2. With more than 18 years of working closely with the government, industry, multilateral bodies, policymakers etc. What would you say has changed in regard to approaching the healthcare sector in the country?
3. Innovations often involve pilot projects. The past decade has been an era of innovations, the pandemic further catalysed the scope of innovations and thus the pilot projects. What are your thoughts around how can the pilot projects in the healthcare domain be scaled up to maximise impact?
4. The agenda 2030 emphasises ‘Leaving no one behind'. Where do you think we stand in achieving the indicators of SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being? And how the programs should be designed that they reflect the spirit of inclusivity and equity?
5. What kind of commitments, institutional and systemic changes are required from the CSR fraternity to bring a sustainable change in the landscape of healthcare?
6. How are you leveraging partnerships, be it for training, assessing or knowledge sharing from government to private organizations and even national level councils?
7. In the current times, when everything has been pushed to move online, how can technology be integrated to design, implement and monitor effective healthcare solutions?