A recent Lancet report suggests that countries like India spend less than two percent of their annual budget on healthcare. This is amazingly low for a country like India with such a huge population and skeletal healthcare infrastructure across small towns and villages. The priority should have been to build a stronger healthcare infrastructure in villages and small towns so that patients from these regions do not overcrowd the tertiary care hospitals in megacities. Also, this absence of proper public healthcare leaves the door open to massive exploitation by private players who charge as much as they want from middle-class and upper-middle-class Indians.
According to reports the government of India has marginally increased the spending on healthcare from Rs.79,221 crores to Rs. 90,171 crores. This is just a small increase of budget allocation compared to what the requirement is. For a country like India which prides itself on its skilled population, human resources is the most important asset. A healthy population is the greatest indicator of a healthy economy. Spending less than two percent on healthcare sector is not good enough and a bare minimum of five percent of total budget allocation is expected to be dedicated towards the health sector.
The healthcare infrastructure in small towns and village blocks in states and union territories like Jharkhand, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh is still a far cry from what is expected. The referrals to the city hospitals are increasing at a rapid pace as the skeletal healthcare infrastructure in towns and villages is not able to cater to the ailments of patients.
We must draw inspiration from countries like Malaysia, South Africa and Japan which have made healthcare a priority. Everything else can wait but not healthcare. Our human resources is our most important asset. We must take due care of our human resources. That is the only magic bullet to become one of the strongest economies in the world.
The government is duty-bound to provide quality healthcare to all its citizens at the minimum cost possible. This is the universal common denominator of a welfare state.
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