Health expenditure's share in GDP down, out-of-pocket expense also declines

Experts said govt's target of raising the healthcare allocation to 2.5% of the GDP, would enable a further decline in out-of-pocket spending

The share of total health expenditure as part of the gross domestic product (GDP) went down to 3.3 per cent in 2017-18 from 3.8 per cent in the previous two years, according to the national health account data released on Monday by the health ministry.

The share of government expenditure as part of total expenditure as well as GDP has gone up from from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18, which could also explain a decline seen in out of pocket expenditure in 2017-18.

Health ministry also emphasised the increase in the government health expenditure