Medical journal Lancet has expressed its disappointment in the Narendra Modi-led government for its "lack of ambition" in aiming to invest only 2.5% of its GDP into health care by 2025 while a global average is of 6%.
In an editorial published on Tuesday along with a comprehensive study published alongside, assessing "India's present health predicaments", the journal has also slammed the poor healthcare accessibility in the country. "Despite India’s HAQ (Healthcare Accessibility Quality) index increasing from 31 in 1990 to 45 in 2015, India still ranked a woeful 154th among 195 countries," said the Lancet editorial.
The Union health ministry had in March this year outlined a new health policy setting the 2.5 per cent goal which, analysts have pointed out, merely iterates a target set 15 years ago without clarity on the roadmap.
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Lauding India's impressive economic growth in the recent decades, the journal said that the government has but "failed to provide affordable healthcare to its people."
"India spends about 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on public health, the lowest among BRICS nations", said another article in the journal, highlighting the plight of most Indians where they have not much of choice when it comes to the government service providers. The country has among the highest out-of-pocket expenditures on medical treatment, it says.
The various state and central government schemes for contingencies and the poor-- like Prime Minister's National Relief Fund and the Health Minister's Cancer Patient Fund-- remain under-utilised due to lack of public awareness, said the report.
Drawing a comparison from the neighbouring China, the editorial further said that "The rise in India’s economic fortunes and its aspiration to progress to the same level as its neighbour, China, is something of an embarrassment, given how improvements to health trail so far behind. Until the federal government in India takes health as seriously as many other nations do, India will not fulfil either its national or global potential."
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Denouncing the Britain's colonial legacy , the Lancet's editorial said that the country's contemporary challenges must first be examined in the context of Bitish Raj.
"Most importantly, as one confronts today’s burden of disease and disability in India, Britain showed little interest in building even the most rudimentary elements of a health or scientific research system during its period of colonial rule," it said.
Of total government spending on health at the state level, on average two-thirds is from the state budget and one-third from the central budget.
The Union health ministry had in March this year outlined a new health policy setting the 2.5 per cent goal which, analysts have pointed out, merely iterates a target set 15 years ago without clarity on the roadmap.
