Budget 2018: India?s Healthcare System Needs More Money and an Urgent Overhaul
BY DIPA SINHA ON 28/01/2018 ? LEAVE A COMMENT
...
Public spending on health
One of the central problems has been the low levels of public spending on health and as a result the poor access to affordable and good quality healthcare for the majority of India?s population. The public expenditure on health at about 1.2% of the GDP is amongst the lowest in the world. Public health facilities suffer from poor infrastructure and human resource inadequacies. For instance, according to the Rural Health Statistics 2017, 13% of the sanctioned health worker (female) posts and 37% of the health worker (male) posts remain vacant. Overall, only 11% of sub-centres and about 13% of primary health centres (PHCs) are functioning as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS). There is therefore an urgent need for more resources to be allocated for public healthcare along with measures to strengthen the delivery of health services.
The National Health Policy 2017 aims to ?increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025?
Although it has already been reported that the health budget is not going to see a significant increase, it has to be noted that without a substantial enhancement in the allocations much of the needed reforms in healthcare provision will not be possible. Achieving this, requires not just an enhancement in the central budget but also increases in each of the state budgets as well. However, the central government can play an important role.
...
BY DIPA SINHA ON 28/01/2018 ? LEAVE A COMMENT
...
Public spending on health
One of the central problems has been the low levels of public spending on health and as a result the poor access to affordable and good quality healthcare for the majority of India?s population. The public expenditure on health at about 1.2% of the GDP is amongst the lowest in the world. Public health facilities suffer from poor infrastructure and human resource inadequacies. For instance, according to the Rural Health Statistics 2017, 13% of the sanctioned health worker (female) posts and 37% of the health worker (male) posts remain vacant. Overall, only 11% of sub-centres and about 13% of primary health centres (PHCs) are functioning as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS). There is therefore an urgent need for more resources to be allocated for public healthcare along with measures to strengthen the delivery of health services.
The National Health Policy 2017 aims to ?increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025?
Although it has already been reported that the health budget is not going to see a significant increase, it has to be noted that without a substantial enhancement in the allocations much of the needed reforms in healthcare provision will not be possible. Achieving this, requires not just an enhancement in the central budget but also increases in each of the state budgets as well. However, the central government can play an important role.
...
Comment