Increased public spending key to better health sector
UHC aims to make health care delivery systems accessible and affordable to all citizens.
However, some experts have also pointed out that the key is to utilise health resources optimally as the country is not entirely lacking in medical infrastructure and human resources.
“If one looks carefully, there is no shortage of medical infrastructure in the country. In fact, India has enough to provide quality secondary and tertiary level care to most of its citizens,” s ai d Dr MC Misra, f ormer director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.
“While government hospitals are overburdened, the bed occupancy in hospitals attached to say private medical colleges is not more than 30-40%.
“There is a need to rationalise the utilisation of this resource that is lying under-utilised. The government can buy facilities for people through government schemes. This way, patients will benefit a great deal,” Misra added.
Meanwhile, the government has maintained that the country is on the right track and is making progress steadily.
“The growth in public health spending has been planned in a phased manner in I ndia’ s National Health Policy, so it will be a gradual progress. Things do not improve overnight; the government i s making st eady progress on most health indicators; the latest maternal mortality rate data shows close to 30% decline, which is a positive sign of movement in the right direction,” a senior health ministry official said on condition of anonymity.