Q.27 Discuss the challenges related to providing universal healthcare in India.

Ans. Health indicators of India have been always low due to many reasons and they still remain a matter of great concern for the GoI and UN bodies. Despite higher economic growth, India fares poorly when compared to countries like China and Sri Lanka in term of parameters like per capita expenditure on health, number of physician/hospital beds and IMR. In addition, within the country, the improvement has been quite uneven across regions/states, gender, rural/urban areas etc. The health system in India is a mix of the public and private sectors, with the NGO sector playing a small role. In providing universal healthcare, the country faces the following challenges:

Physical challenges are related to having adequate number of trained personnel, hospitals and other infrastructure. The Centre and state need active participation from the private sector and the NGOs.

Economic challenges are related to the mobilisation of funds to meet the physical challenges at one hand, while on the other, delivering the required medical services to the needy people.

Universal health insurance is under consideration with government supported premium payment.

As per the Universal Health Coverage Index (UCH Index) of the World Bank, India ranks 143 among 190 countries in terms of per capita government spending on health. India needs to spend around 2.5 per cent of its GDP to go for universal healthcare which stands at just 1.4 per cent

(Economic Survey 2016–17). To mobilise enough funds and manpower for the purpose, India should aim at channelising all possible resources at the governments, private sector and civil society.