India Screens More Than 41 Crore People for Hypertension Under National NCD Programme

India Screens More Than 41 Crore People for Hypertension Under National NCD Programme

Date: 23 March 2026
Place: New Delhi, India
Category: Government Health Programme | NCDs

New Delhi: India's nationwide programme for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases has reached a major milestone, with more than 40.87 crore people screened for hypertension, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Government reported on 23 March 2026 that approximately 7 crore people had been diagnosed with hypertension and 5.57 crore were under treatment through the national programme.

The screening programme operates under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD), which focuses on screening, early diagnosis, referral, treatment and health promotion.

The scale of the programme is significant because hypertension is often described as a silent condition. People may have elevated blood pressure for years without experiencing symptoms, allowing cardiovascular and kidney damage to develop unnoticed.

The government has therefore placed considerable emphasis on population-level screening and integrating NCD services into primary healthcare.

As part of the broader NCD infrastructure, the government reported 770 District NCD Clinics, 6,410 NCD clinics at Community Health Centres and 233 Cardiac Care Units.

The programme is designed not only to identify hypertension but also to connect diagnosed patients with long-term treatment and follow-up.

More recent government data has subsequently reported that the number screened for hypertension has reached 41.5 crore, showing continued expansion of the national screening effort.

However, the scale of screening also highlights the enormous challenge ahead. Finding patients is only the first step. Sustained treatment, medicine availability, adherence, lifestyle modification and regular BP monitoring are necessary to reduce complications.

Why this matters

India's hypertension response is increasingly moving from “screen and diagnose” to “screen, treat and control.”

The success of the programme will ultimately be measured not simply by how many people are screened, but by how many people diagnosed with hypertension achieve and maintain healthy blood-pressure levels.

Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India / Press Information Bureau, 23 March 2026