Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad today emphasised the government’s responsibility towards providing healthcare and said further expansion of the private sector would not address the health sector problems of the country.
The minister said that more than Rs 10,000 crore would be spent over the next two to three years to establish another six medical institutions like AIIMS, in relatively under-developed and under-served regions of the country.
“Despite the improving economic indices, India continues to be one of the largest contributors of diseases in the world,” Azad said while speaking at a conference on Building Infrastructure – Challenges and Opportunities – Private Participation in Health and Education.
He acknowledged the role of the private sector in addressing the several challenges that plagued the industry. “The importance of the private sector was recognised in the eighties. State governments extended land and electricity at concessional rates and the Central government waived-off taxes on imported equipment. This was to try and stimulate private investments in establishing health facilities to meet the growing demand for medical care.”
“Today it is estimated that 75 per cent of human resources; 68 per cent hospitals and 37 per cent of total bed capacity is in the private sector,” he added.
However, he said, the poor and the lower middle class require state intervention to protect them against high medical-care cost. “In absence of such an option, private healthcare costs were having a devastating impact on household incomes. More than three crore people are forced into poverty every year on account of catastrophic medical expenses.”