Health for All: Need for pragmatism

A healthcare system, which is universally accessible, affordable and effective, is crucial for a developing country like India. To build such a system, we require robust healthcare infrastructure, trained and motivated personnel, and better access to medicines and equipments. There are 7 hospital beds per 10,000 population in India, compared to 23 in Brazil, 38 in China and 97 in Russia.

In terms of healthcare professionals, India again lags behind the other BRIC countries. There are 7 physicians per 10,000 population in India, compared to 19 in Brazil, 15 in China and 43 in Russia. Though schemes like the National Health Mission have improved service delivery, health services in India still suffer from lack of reach and constraints of quality.Pointing these out at a recent seminar on health, President Pranab Mukherjee rightly said India’s public expenditure on health is meagre.

“We fare below our BRIC peers on this count as well. India’s per capita government expenditure on health in PPP terms is $44, as against $809 in Russia, $474 in Brazil and $236 in China. Considering that we are a sixth of humanity, a significant rise in health expenditure is urgently required to ensure universal health coverage.”A health insurance mechanism that can take care of all is the need of the hour. As per estimates, about 216 million people in India or 17 percent of the population were covered under various health insurance schemes as at end-March 2014.

India needs to to much more to bring the uncovered population under the health security net. An insured population will also be a healthy population, which will exhibit a greater propensity to seek education, acquire knowledge and access job opportunities. Good health and fitness of the people will truly be a reflection of our country’s progress.

Another area of immediate attention is that medical research should be made a culmination of multi-disciplinary effort comprising varied fields like medical electronics, systems biology, bio-technology, genomics, mathematical simulation, and information and communication. A holistic approach to improvise medical interventions would lead to better cure towards maintenance of good health by the people.

A healthcare system, which is universally accessible, affordable and effective, requires a robust healthcare infrastructure, trained and motivated personnel, and better access to medicines and equipments. At present, there are 7 hospital beds per 10,000 population in India, compared to 23 in Brazil, 38 in China and 97 in Russia. In terms of healthcare professionals too, the country again lags behind the other BRIC countries. There are 7 physicians per 10,000 population in India, compared to 19 in Brazil, 15 in China and 43 in Russia. Though schemes like the National Health Mission have improved service delivery, health services in India still suffer from lack of reach and constraints of quality.

Finally, India’s public expenditure on health is meager. Tertiary medical care in our country poses a challenge on account of lack of accessibility and affordability. Costly medical treatments effectively deny cure to those who cannot afford. In India, out-of-pocket expenditure comprises 86 percent of private expenditure on health. Due to lack of financial risk protection, many in our country plunge into poverty fighting ailments and bearing high costs of treatment. (Agencies)