Insiders say funding from the government towards health in India is now low, in the range of 1.6-1.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. This can be said to be next to nothing compared to what we really need. Experts in the sector recommend that we spend at least 2.5 percent of GDP in the sector.
As of now, it really is being hastened by Dr. Harsh Mahajan, Chairman of the FICCI Health Services Committee, and Founder & Chief Radiologist at Mahajan Imaging Labs. He said that if a 5 trillion economy were to be realized, then in the next couple of years, the country would most certainly need a ‘Healthy India’.
PC: Times of India
He has also spoken about the importance of diagnostic and preventive healthcare. He bats for the minuscule amount of customs duty on life-saving equipment and diagnostic reagents and machines. Just think of the help that would come of that! It also completely defeats the purpose with regard to Goods and Services Taxes. Healthcare providers pay all these taxes but get no input tax credits, which jack up the cost for patients.
And then there is Dr. D. S. Rana from the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, who is into making sure healthcare reaches every nook and cranny of India, especially the rural areas. First, he emphasized that more funds were needed to really ensure that primary, secondary, and tertiary care reached the doorstep of the rural population. Oh yes, he did mention the correct maximum retail price as the one really big element in the drug battle against counterfeits.
One other point was also cited by Anubha Taneja Mukherjee from the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy Group. She is advocating for a national level of control program for Thalassemia, just like that of Sickle Cell Anaemia. Did you know that India is the Thalassemia Capital of the world? It’s crazy. She’s calling for the scaling up of expenditure on Thalassemia for prevention, management, and treatment. She also wished to protect the safety of blood for patients requiring transfusions every two weeks. She would advocate new technologies in nucleic acid tests to help protect against infection illnesses caused by transfusions, such as HIV.
Sudarshan Jain of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance joined in as well. He is talking about high investment and intense research in the pharma sector. He said something on the lines of the need for rationalization of GST rates for the pharma sector.
Last but not the least, Poonam Muttreja of the Population Foundation of India underlined the necessity to invest substantially in an enabling environment of education, skilling, employment, and well-being for 370 million youth in the country. She recommended scaling higher education for women, vocational training, and leadership development for women to harness gender dividends. She also called for developing tailor-made health services for the ageing population in India.
