Plea To Raise GDP Spend For Healthcare

Madurai: The Tamil Nadu chapter of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (TNAHPI) has urged the government to take measures to allocate larger GDP spending to healthcare post Covid-19 outbreak to ensure affordable healthcare services for all in future.

“India spends just a little over 1% of its GDP on public healthcare despite an increase in health expenditure since 2009, according to the latest National Health Profile (NHP) data. India’s healthcare system is in dire need of funds not just to be able to employ more doctors and nurses but also for more hospitals and better run primary health centres in rural areas,” said Dr S Gurushankar, president, TNAHPI. He further pointed out that the average healthcare spend per person in the country is among the lowest when compared to other countries.

“With the world’s largest poor population, India’s low public health spending has serious implications. Further, there is also a lack of accountability, unethical care, overcrowding of clinics, poor cooperation between public and private spheres, high healthcare cost and low insurance coverage,” explained the doctor.

It was stressed that the quality of care provided in state-run hospitals needs to be brought up to the standard of healthcare infrastructure provided by the Centre. “As of now, even the poor have to knock on the doors of private hospitals for access to quality healthcare, bleeding them of all their savings and resources. This problem can only be solved when every citizen is entitled to access a package of essential health services through a national health entitlement card,” added Dr Gurushankar.-Times Of India