Health Ministry rubbishes criticism of NHA, terms it 'flawed argument'

The Health Ministry denied media reports showing inaccuracies in the NHA, specifically, on the out-of-the-pocket expenditure reduction claims, and scotches such criticism as a flawed and specious argument. Calling NHA data a mirage is selective picking of data that doesn't hold water, ministry added.

New Delhi: Asserting that the Central government's current health expenditure has been increasing constantly between 2013-14 and 2017-18, the Health Ministry on Friday reiterated that the recent National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates (2018-19), show a substantial reduction in out-of-the-pocket expenditure.

"The NHA provides detailed information on expenditure incurred within the health sector of the country. These estimates are crucial as they are not only a reflection of the existing health system of the country but also enable the government to monitor the progress made in different health financing indicators," the health ministry said.

The Ministry also denied media reports showing inaccuracies in the NHA, especially, the out-of-pocket expenditure reduction claims. "Such criticism is based on flawed juxtaposition and selective picking of data to further their specious arguments in a formulation like seems problematic, seems unlikely, as the basis of a claim, is nothing if not hypothetical disagreement," the ministry clarified.

Highlighting the recent NHA estimates which show a substantial reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), the Ministry said, "calling this data, a mirage by one expert of health economics working in a private Indian University and quoted in a certain section of media, is devoid of justification and rational basis."

The ministry said that the main source of information for OOPE was based on NSO data for 2017-18 whereas the previous estimates were based on 2014.
"Both the surveys of the 71st and 75th rounds use the same sampling design for the selection of households so that it ensures comparability of both the rounds," the ministry said.

As per NSS, there has been an increase in the utilization of government facilities among those who took medical advice in the last 15 days by almost 5 percent. "In the case of hospitalization, this increase is around 4 percent in rural areas and 3 percent in urban areas. In the case of childbirth, the share of government facilities has increased by 3 percent in rural areas, and in urban areas, it has increased by 6 percent," the Ministry said.

There has also been a decline of more than 20 percent in average medical expenditure in government facilities for hospitalization. In the case of institutional delivery, it has declined by 9 percent in urban areas and 16 percent in total areas, the ministry said.

"Even if we look at the current health expenditure as a share of GDP, there has been a consistent increase from 2013-14 and 2017-18. As a share of GDP, it has increased by more than 10 percent for the same period," the Ministry said.