ICMR’s NEDL 2025 Draft: Building a Healthier India Through Better Testing

What Is NEDL and Why It Matters

ICMR’s NEDL 2025 Draft: Building a Healthier India Through Better Testing: India’s healthcare system often struggles not because treatments are missing, but because diagnoses are delayed or absent—especially in rural areas. To fix this, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) released the draft National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL) 2025, an upgraded version of India’s first such list launched in 2019. This updated draft outlines essential tests that must be available at every public health level, from a village clinic to a district hospital.

The idea is simple: patients shouldn’t travel or pay heavily just to know what’s wrong. With a standardised list, India is one step closer to universal health coverage.

Bigger, Better, More Inclusive

The 2025 draft makes major improvements in testing coverage:

• Village centres via ASHA workers will now screen for tuberculosis, diabetes, and more.
• Primary Health Centres (PHCs) will offer 74 tests, up from 64.
• District Hospitals (DHs) will scale up from 117 to 171 tests.
• Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Ayushman Arogya Mandirs also see substantial test upgrades.

This expansion addresses both infectious diseases (like malaria, HIV, syphilis) and non-communicable ones (like high blood sugar and thyroid problems)—ensuring no community is left out.

Smarter Delivery Through the Hub-and-Spoke Model

Not every facility needs a costly CT machine or advanced lab. Instead, NEDL 2025 introduces a hub-and-spoke system—where village health centres (spokes) collect samples and send them to bigger hospitals (hubs) for complex tests. This balances cost, infrastructure, and turnaround time.

For example, an ASHA worker in Odisha can collect a sputum sample for TB and send it to the district lab—avoiding long patient travel and faster diagnosis.

Collaboration, Not Command

ICMR’s approach this year stands out for being open and collaborative. The draft invites feedback from doctors, researchers, and even citizens, with public comments open until January 15, 2025. By asking for ground-level inputs, the final version will reflect real needs, not just policy assumptions.

The list also aligns with national schemes like the Free Diagnostics Services Initiative (FDSI) and leverages existing Ministry of Health protocols—avoiding overlap and ensuring consistency across the public health network.

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