Healthcare as an optional public service would ensure the legal right to receive free, quality health care in a public institution. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· Universal health care (UHC). Meanwhile, UHC has become a well-accepted objective of public policy around the world.
· The basic idea of UHC is that no one should be deprived of quality health care for the lack of ability to pay.
· In concrete terms, UHC typically relies on one or both of two basic approaches: public service and social insurance.
· A primary health centre can work wonders, but only if doctors and nurses are on the job and care for the patients. India’s public health services have a bad name in that respect, but they are improving, and they can improve more.
· The private sector is too entrenched for a NHS to displace it in the near future. But it is possible to envisage a framework for UHC that would build primarily on health care as a public service, and have a chance at least to converge toward some sort of NHS in due course.
· Social insurance, however, carries a risk of tilting health care towards expensive tertiary care, and also towards better-off sections of the population.
· The scope and quality of these services are growing steadily over time. A Right to Health Bill would be an invaluable affirmation of the State’s commitment to quality health care for all.
