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India slashes health budget, already one of the world's lowest

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  • India slashes health budget, already one of the world's lowest

    India slashes health budget, already one of the world's lowest
    BY ADITYA KALRA
    NEW DELHI Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:20pm IST

    (Reuters) - The government has ordered a cut of nearly 20 percent in its 2014/15 healthcare budget due to fiscal strains, putting at risk key disease control initiatives in a country whose public spending on health is already among the lowest in the world.

    Two health ministry officials told Reuters on Tuesday that more than 60 billion rupees, or $948 million, has been slashed from their budget allocation of around $5 billion for the financial year ending on March 31.


    ...
    http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/1...0K10Y020141223
    Twitter: @RonanKelly13
    The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

  • #2
    Go read this whole piece. It's nicely researched and written. Provides a nice context for the current flu season in India. One quibble - pandemic started in Mexico & spread to US, not the other way around. - Ro

    Swine flu outbreak in India: Blame govt's shamefully low public health expenditure
    by G Pramod Kumar Feb 18, 2015 15:58 IST

    After the 2009 global pandemic of swine flu that originated in the United States, the scare of another big outbreak looks real, but this time in India with most parts of the country reporting cases of the illness. Half the country looks hit already.
    ...
    The good news is that the incidence of fatality from swine flu is not very high and it can be prevented by adequate protection and other steps. If one is at higher risk of getting infected, with somebody at home already showing signs of the flu, there are preventive steps including prophylactic (preventive) medication possible. If there is a higher incidence in the community, there is also the option of vaccination. But if the public health officials, private medical practitioners, whom three-fourth of Indians turn to, and general population are unaware of the preparedness needed, which is the most likely situation in many of the affected states, it?s difficult to stop the spread.

    In 2009, when the outbreak spread in the US, before crossing over to Mexico and the rest of the world, President Obama declared the illness a national emergency. In India, like in many other developing countries, the tendency of the governments is to deny. For instance, in the past, places such as Delhi, and even better equipped states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, had tried to play down the seriousness of local dengue outbreaks.
    ...



    Twitter: @RonanKelly13
    The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

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    • #3
      Misplaced priorities? Budget 2015 spends less than 10-year average on public healthcare
      by Rajesh Pandathil Mar 1, 2015 15:13 IST

      When it comes to allocation for the healthcare sector, governments in India have always been stingy. Arun Jaitley's 2015-16 budget shows the Modi government is no different and that is bad news, especially when swine flu is spreading across the country.
      The government has allocated Rs 33,152 crore to the health sector. In his Budget in July 2014, Jaitley had earmarked Rs 30,645 crore, which, according to an earlier Reuters report, was further cut by 20 percent due to the fiscal strains.

      Apart from this allocation, the minister has made proposals to set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Another AIIMS-like institution will come up in Bihar too.
      Another step taken by the finance minister to widen healthcare net is increasing the limit of deduction in respect of health insurance premium (Section 80D of the Income Tax Act) from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
      However, experts are disappointed with the measures taken as they fail to address many burning issues that need urgent attention.
      "It is not clear how the marginal increase in allocation will take care of the family planning agenda and the new AIIMS," Population Foundation of India executive director Poonam Muttreja has been quoted as saying in a report in The Times of India.
      The announcement of the five more AIIMS need to be taken with a pinch off salt as this is not going to happen in the foreseeable future.
      ...
      Twitter: @RonanKelly13
      The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

      Comment


      • #4
        Centre?s move irks health activists
        Rema Nagarajan,TNN | Apr 5, 2015, 12.20 AM IST

        NEW DELHI: Public health activists expressed dismay and outrage at the central government's decision to scrap the idea of a centrally supported free drug scheme. The scheme was initiated after several studies had shown that medicines constitute about 67% of people's expenditure on healthcare.

        After several meetings with public health activists over the past several months to draw up a list of essential medicines to be supplied through the free medicines scheme, the government's sudden decision to wind up the scheme itself has drawn widespread criticism.

        "The whole scheme was initiated over five years back during UPA-II days. At that time it was to be a centrally funded scheme and the planning commission had even worked out the how much it would cost the centre. It is unfortunate that it has now been wound down to telling the states that if you fulfil certain conditions we will give you a 5% incentive which is paltry. This is a retrogressive move. It was such a low hanging fruit with the potential to do so much good," said co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Dr Amit Sengupta. He added this had become the trend with this government to slash budget for public spending claiming that states are getting more money to spend.
        ...
        India News: Public health activists expressed dismay and outrage at the central government’s decision to scrap the idea of a centrally supported free drug scheme.
        Twitter: @RonanKelly13
        The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

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        • #5
          India's disproportionately tiny health budget: A national security concern?
          While public health efforts are on, they lack scale, funds, human resources and training, making progress achingly slow. The statistics speak louder than any critic.
          DIVYA RAJAGOPAL&Rohini Mohan | ET Bureau | 31 October 2015, 8:15 AM IST


          Narendra Modi may pose a challenge to Rahul Gandhi in India's next parliamentary elections, Time magazine said.
          The world's highest number of women dying in childbirth; the world's highest deaths of children under the age of five; a health system that ranks 112 among 190 countries; one doctor for 1,700 people; 21% of the world's burden of disease, worsened by poor basic health and sanitation. While India has the fastest growing population, and an ambitious growth aspiration, it has always had a disproportionately small health budget. In 2015, this shrank further to 1.2% of the GDP, one of the stingiest in the world.

          British medical journal The Lancet is set to publish a report in December challenging the NDA government on service delivery and universal health care, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll promises. The Lancet's editor-in-chief Richard Horton has told The Times of India that health seemed to have "completely vanished" from the NDA's agenda. The health ministry has rubbished Horton's comments and listed its latest schemes and missions.
          ...
          While public health efforts are on, they lack scale, funds, human resources and training, making progress achingly slow. The statistics speak louder than any critic.
          Twitter: @RonanKelly13
          The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.

          Comment

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