Health Budgetary Allocation

What is the issue?

In India, there is a rising demand which exceeds supply in most sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This suggests that the health budgetary allocation needs to go up.

What is the situation?

In India, the number of positive Coronavirus cases is going up.
Due to the pandemic, there is an ever-rising demands for testing kits, masks, hand sanitisers, etc., which had increased.
There is a question whether national and state health systems will be able to cope with these rising demands.
In mainland China where the rapidly climbing numbers went far beyond the capacity of the country, the health systems struggled to cope.

How much is the current health allocation?

For years, India’s health expenditure as a percentage of GDP has been abysmal at about 1%.
As per the National Health Profile, 2019, there has been no significant change in health-care expenditure since 2009-2010.
The highest it has been in the decade is 1.28 % of the GDP, and hit the lowest point at 0.98 % in 2014-2015.
The report does record that per capita public expenditure on health in nominal terms went up from ₹621 in 2009-10 to ₹1,112 in 2015-16.
A 2018 WHO report says that out-of-pocket payments remain common in India which was estimated at 62% of total health expenditure in 2014.

Why the health allocation should be increased?

The public spending on health care should be increased to lessen the financial hardship for communities.
The increased public spending will also better the health outcomes of a community.

What could be done?

The government has made a promise to increase public health spending to 2.5 % of GDP by 2025.
It could use this epidemic as an opportunity to scale up budgetary allocations for health to facilitate expansion of capacity.
Epidemics are known to change the course of history.
So, India must steer this one to harness finite resources optimally for the benefit of all.

Source: The Hindu