Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Friday said the country faced 'formidable challenges' in the health sector despite advances in treatment methods and referred to the 'glaring disparity' in provision of health services between urban and rural areas.
Naidu urged the private sector to expand to rural areas to bridge the divide with the urban parts, vis-a-vis the availability of quality health care.
India has made significant progress since Independence in the health indicators with successive governments according high priority to health and the well-being of the people, he said at the inauguration of the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre.
"Although the health outcomes have improved with the availability of modern methods of treatment and better health care facilities, the country is still facing many formidable challenges on this front," he said.
These included inadequate public spend,low doctor-patient ratio, high share of out-of-pocket expenditure, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate preventive mechanisms, he said.
"While we have successfully eliminated some infectious diseases and improved the reach of health care delivery, there still is a glaring disparity in the provision of the services between urban and rural areas," he said.
While the private sector was complementing the governments efforts in providing health care facilities, its focus was "mostly confined to urban areas."
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