The ongoing pandemic has not only showcased the inadequacies but also the resilience of the healthcare sector of the country. Justify (200 Words)
Refer - Economic Survey V-I Chapter 5
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
Resilience
· The percentage of the poorest utilising prenatal care through public facilities has increased from 19.9 per cent to 24.7 per cent from 2004 to 2020.
· The poorest utilising inpatient care and outpatient care has increased from 12.7 per cent to 18.5 per cent and from 15.6 per cent to 18.3 per cent.
· The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has helped showcase the role of technology-enabled platforms as an alternate distribution channel for remote delivery of healthcare services. Ex: Telemedicine.
· The National Health mission (NHM) has played a critical role in mitigating inequity as the access of the poorest to pre-natal and post-natal care as well as institutional deliveries has increased significantly.
Inadequacies
· Telemedicine depends crucially on internet connectivity and health infrastructure. Both Central and the State governments need to invest to complement the government’s digital health mission.
· From a financial perspective, India has one of the highest levels of Out of Pocket Expenditure in the world, hence poverty.
· Information asymmetry in healthcare, which creates market failures.
· With limited visibility into patients’ medical records and no standardised treatment protocols, insurance companies have a risk of adverse selection at the time of policy issuance.
Dev 4 years
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IAS Parliament 4 years
Good attempt. Keep Writing.
