'India needs better government participation in the health sector'

The health ministries in the developing countries may be pushed into action by the public's dissatisfaction with the poor health services and bad publicity, said Jane Shaw, senior fellow, Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds, UK, while delivering a lecture on 'International Experiences of Quality improvement in Health' at a seminar at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Monday.

According to the World Health Report, India ranks 121 out of the 191 countries in terms of overall health system attainment.

The three-day seminar, which will focus on 'Service Quality Improvements' is organised by the Public Systems Group of IIM-A, in association with the Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds under the Higher Educational Link Scheme of the British Council.

"Where there is a health sector reform initiative, which involves decentrilisation of health service, one way for the ministry to retain some central control, and assure some consistent national standards, is to establish tighter control and report systems.

"Professional lobbying for improved services may be backed by donor pressure fro other ministries such as ministry of labour, since poor health care results in an unhealthy workforce and damaged economy." said Shaw.

K V Ramani, faculty at IIM-A, said, "India spends less than one per cent of its GDP in the health sector, while most of the countries of the world spend around eight to 14 per cent. India may be shining in the other sectors but not in the health sector.

"Health and socio economic condition goes hand in hand and if the government wants to improve the socio economic condition of the country, the quality health sector has to be improved," Ramani added.