An unhealthy trend

A parliamentary committee’s report, tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, says the Central budget allocations for health in five years to March 2017 were less than half of the 12th Plan (2012-17) promises. Over the years the Centre and states have earned notoriety as low health spenders. As a result of persistent neglect, India has the world’s highest number of women dying in childbirth and the world’s highest deaths of children under five. Its health system ranks 112 among 190 countries. Nearly one million Indians die every year due to inadequate healthcare facilities and close to 700 million people have no access to specialist care. The 70 per cent population living in villages has little or limited access to hospitals and clinics. These are figures culled from media reports. Surprisingly, low-profile states like Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir invest more in healthcare than larger, better-off states.  

Healthcare neglect deeply impacts citizens’ lives, particularly their capacity to learn and earn and be productive contributors to national growth. Experts estimate that India loses 6 per cent of its annual GDP to preventable illnesses and premature deaths. Under-funding and under-staffing have hit government health institutions, driving crowds to private hospitals. Out-of-pocket expenditure in India is among the highest, which is considered a regressive way of financing healthcare since it means a limited access to institutional services. Surprisingly, increased awareness of health issues has not led to an outcry for better services in government dispensaries and hospitals, but to a mushroom growth of private health institutions, helped by business-friendly government policies.  

The Centre and states are pushing health insurance, reimbursing employees’ treatment costs in private hospitals as well. The taxpayers’ money is channelled into private hospitals, which lure patients with advertised five-star claims. A government cannot run away from making affordable healthcare available to citizens. Delhi’s “mohalla clinics” can show the way forward. Technology is available to offer good medicare even in remote areas.