| Dr. Indu Bhushan | |
| Birth Date: | 1961 1, df=yes |
| Termend1: | 31 January 2021 |
| Termstart1: | 1 February 2018 |
| Successor1: | Ram Sewak Sharma |
| Predecessor1: | Position Established |
| Occupation: | civil servant, economist |
| Known For: | Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna |
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.[1]
In 1983 Bhushan received B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU) and Postgraduate Diploma from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Bhushan graduated with a doctorate in economics and a master's degree in health science from Johns Hopkins University.[2]
From 1983-92, Bhushan served as an Indian Administrative Service officer in the Rajasthan cadre before taking voluntary retirement.[3] From 1994-96 he was with the World Bank.[4] Bhushan held various appointments at the Asian Development Bank from 1997.[2] In 2018 he accepted an appointment as CEO of Ayushman Bharat, an Indian government agency providing national healthcare coverage.[2]
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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[6] He emphasized that medical privacy for patients has to be secure for any health data.[6] [7] He compared the privacy and security of the Unified Payments Interface for his own plans in medicine through the National Digital Health Mission.[6]
A year into running the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Bhushan again spoke of personal privacy in an interview.[8] In another interview he described heavily he relied on technological development to achieve goals, while again stating the need for privacy.[9]
In 2020, Bhushan received the Global Achievement Award from the alumni association of Johns Hopkins University, where he was a student.[10]
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.[11]