Dr. Singh stresses importance of access to quality frontline healthcare
“Access to quality frontline healthcare is essential. Quality frontline services enhance equity,” stressed Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for the South-East Asia Region (SEAR), last Saturday.
In the information package distributed that day, while commending the numerous achievements of Sri Lanka, there is a crucial question that is being posed: Have we achieved UHC?
The answer is: “There is evidence that some are missing out on health coverage in Sri Lanka.”
And these “some” include:
The elderly, as Sri Lanka has one of the fastest ageing populations, with about 19 percent of the population falling into the ‘elderly group’ by 2030.
21 percent of diagnosed diabetics who are not on treatment, according to 2015 data.
30 percent of adults who have not been screened for hypertension and 42 percent of those with hypertension who are not on treatment, according to 2015 data.
25 percent of adult males and 34 percent of adult females who are overweight, according to 2015 data. With household health spending being Rs. 1,488 a month, about 1 percent of households are spending more than 25 percent of their total expenditure on health, according to 2013/14 data.
To redress this situation, what “more” can be done to achieve UHC – Ensure that all policies are conducive to health; all essential medicines are available at all levels; trained health staff are equitably distributed; protection for the poor from having to pay for health services; all interventions being evidence-based, effective and safe; information being available for decision-making at all levels; primary care is re-organised to provide equitable access to services; disparities in service provision are minimised; care services are shifted to be people-centred; and the engagement and participation of people.