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More than a decade after the last health policy India saw, the government is planning a new one. The health ministry, headed by Cabinet Minister Harsh Vardhan, is deliberating on the key areas to be included in a comprehensive policy, it is learnt.
Vardhan is believed to have conveyed to senior health ministry officials, in the many meetings that he has had with them, that among the things to be attended to immediately is the new health policy.
The move is in line with Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2014 election manifesto. “India now needs a comprehensive healthcare policy to address the complex healthcare challenges, keeping in view the developments in the healthcare sector and the changing demographics. BJP will initiate the New Health Policy,” the manifesto said.
Vardhan is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi early next week to brief him on the policy.
Issues which are likely to be a part of the new policy are malnutrition, rational use of essential medicines, expansion of immunization programme to include Hepatitis B, Hemophilus influenza and other preventable diseases, an official said. Other key areas could be modernisation of public hospitals, tobacco control programme and a separate division for environmental health. There are plans for an inclusive health insurance policy too but it could be a separate national policy.
The last health policy dates back to 2002. It included objectives to ensure a more equitable access to health services across the social and geographical expanse of the country. One of the key highlights of the policy was to build a strong primary health network in rural India. The policy also talked about increasing health sector expenditure to 6% of gross domestic product (GDP), with 2% of GDP being contributed as public health investment, by the year 2010. That goal, among many others, has remained unfulfilled.
While the proposal for the new policy is currently in its initial stages, leading health activists are already apprehensive about the approach to the policy.
Amit Sengupta, co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a public health advocacy movement, said the government first needs to distinguish between health policy and healthcare policy. “What the government is currently deliberating on is more of a healthcare policy whereas there is a need for an all inclusive health policy which would deal with issues related to commerce, trade, women, gender etc.”
According to Sengupta, this system has to be integrated and networked so that at various levels they are linked. For instance, the focus should be to start with building primary health care systems which can then determine the need for secondary and tertiary care hospitals.
Experts also feel the BJP-led government is focused on creating an insurance based healthcare system which may not be conducive to India’s socio-economic scenario.
Even so, stakeholders are watching out for a new health policy, that may formally be in the works soon.
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