The Ministry of Health's Public Health Management Cadre (PHMC) 2022 blue booklet has invited a backlash from the healthcare fraternity across the country. A well-known Virologist Dr Jacob John, retired professor and Head of Clinical Virology and Microbiology Department at Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu, said, "We are creating a Public Health Management Cadre (PHMC), without having a public health department, which is an oxymoron. We need a public health division in the government independent of healthcare, without creating a public health division under the Ministry of Health, which is nothing but the ministry of ‘diseases’ and that is where people are misled."

Speaking exclusively with mid-day, Dr John said, “Are avoiding facing real problems – tuberculosis (TB), malaria, leptospirosis, encephalitis etc. Why haven’t we been able to manage these diseases to date? Imagining a system for handling a future pandemic is wishful thinking, the moot question is: have we managed to handle the present pandemic well? By coming up with new names for the cadres like Public Health Management Cadre (PHMC), the virus will not get scared. Instead of designing the short-term and long-term solutions, a booklet titled PHMC is released, which won’t change anything in reality."