Govt health expenditure allocation in GDP rises from 1.15% to 1.35% : Report

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan released findings of the National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India for 2017-18, here on Monday. As per the findings of the report, the government's health expenditure as a share of total expenditure has increased from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

New Delhi:There has been an increase in the share of government health expenditure in the total GDP of India. It has increased from 1.15% in 2013-14 to 1.35% in 2017-18, according to the National Health Account Estimate report.

Additionally, the share of Government Health Expenditure in total health expenditure has also increased overtime. In 2017-18, the share of government expenditure was 40.8%, which is much higher than 28.6% in 2013-14.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan released findings of the National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India for 2017-18, here on Monday. As per the findings of the report, the government's health expenditure as a share of total expenditure has increased from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

The findings also highlighted the Government's stand on its health sector with the report saying that the government health expenditure in the term of per capita has increased from Rs 1,042 to Rs 1,753 between 2013-14 to 2017-18.

The share of primary healthcare in current government health expenditure has increased from 51.1% in 2013-14 to 54.7% in 2017-18. This increment is a clear manifestation of the Government’s stance on the health of its fellow citizens.

Primary and Secondary care accounts for more than 80 per cent of the current government health expenditure. There has been an increase in share of primary and secondary care in case of government health expenditure.

In the private sector, the share of tertiary care has increased but primary and secondary care show a declining trend. Between 2016-17 and 2017-18, in government the share of primary and secondary care has increased from 75 per cent to 86 per cent.

In the private sector, the share of primary and secondary care has declined from 84 per cent to 74 per cent.

The out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) as a share of total health expenditure has come down to 48.8 per cent in 2017-18 from 64.2 per cent in 2013-14 as per the report.

Per capita Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) declined from Rs 2,336 to Rs 2,097 from 2013-14 to 2017-18. One of the factors attributing to this decline is the increase utilisation and reduction in cost of services in government health facilities. If we compare NHA 2014-15 and 2017-18 there has been a decline in OOPE for government hospitals in the tune of 50%, the report says.

The findings also depicted that the foreign aid for health has come down to 0.5 per cent, a clear manifestation of India's economic-self reliance.