Report of the Health Survey and Development Committee: Vol. II

The Health Survey and Development Committee was appointed by the Government of India in October 1943 to make a broad survey of the health conditions and services in British India. Its chairman was Joseph William Bhore, an Indian Civil Service officer. In its four-volume report, the Committee recommended the integration of curative and preventive medicine at all levels, the development of primary health care units in rural areas, and major changes in medical education. Volume II of the report stressed the importance of a national health plan that would focus on early detection and prevention of epidemic and communicable diseases, nutrition and sanitation, among other areas, and most importantly, provide free health services to people irrespective of their financial status.The Committee acknowledged that India, at that time, lacked financial resources and trained medical personnel, which made it difficult to provide full-fledged health services. So it proposed a short- and a long-term programme that would provide for free services, especially in rural areas.