Medical sector needs rejuvenation therapy

Recently, the External Affairs Minister Jaishanker has voiced his theory for the current problem. According to him, inadequate budgetary allocations to the health sector since the past seven and half decades lies at the root of the problem. Though what he said is true, it is also a fact that the levels of budgetary allocations to the health sector were not any different during the NDA rule also.

Hyderabad: The covid crisis has exposed the limitations of India’s medical establishment to meet the requirements of the country’s 139 crore people. The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had criticized the government saying that covid safety remains elusive to the citizens. Recently, the High Courts of several States have castigated the failure of the rulers-that-be in protecting the lives of the people.

Recently, the External Affairs Minister Jaishanker has voiced his theory for the current problem. According to him, inadequate budgetary allocations to the health sector since the past seven and half decades lies at the root of the problem. Though what he said is true, it is also a fact that the levels of budgetary allocations to the health sector were not any different during the NDA rule also.

The Central Medical and Health department had pleaded for allocation of Rs 1.21 lakh crore in the 2021-22 annual budget. A Parliamentary standing committee report clearly reveals that the Center imposed cuts to the Rs 50,000 crore on the department’s budgetary requirement.

However, the Finance Minister boastfully claimed that Rs 2.23 lakh crore were allocated in the budget for public health and wellbeing. Ironically this allocation is meant to cover a whole gamut of issues including drinking water supply, sanitation, air pollution control and other services. The deceptive claims thus stand exposed. The grossly inadequate allocations to the sector will leave nothing for the creation of infrastructure facilities, emergency corrective measures and research.

The Parliamentary Standing committee lamented that the Center’s allocations for health protection are nominal. It said this attitude is in gross contravention to the national policy which calls upon the States and Union Territories to earmark 8 per cent of their budgetary allocations to the health sector. The panel’s observations mirror the anarchic situation prevailing in the country on the health front. The huge number of deaths due to covid will have to be seen in this light.

Countries like Sweden and Japan are allotting nine per cent of their Gross Domestic Product to the health sector, while India has been earmarking only 1.4 per cent. The World Bank statistics and Oxfam report have clearly exposed India’s poor track record on the medical front. Countries like Germany, Belgium, UK and Sweden are implementing plans to provide universal medical care since the past several decades. In a list of 196 countries of the World, India stands at the 158th position in terms of government expenditure on the medical sector. While the international average of Individual health expenditure stands at 18 per cent, in India the average individual expenditure for the purpose is 63 per cent.

The seventy-fifth National Sample Survey had clearly stated that almost 80 per cent of the country’s families are left entangled in debt traps due to their inability to clear medical bills. As the spirit of national health protection policy stands violated, we are seeing today the death of innumerable unfortunate beings.

The roots of the present health crisis lie in the policies followed by the government. As the Supreme Court had said, affordable medical treatment is integral part of the right to health. Health protection will be possible only when proper policies are drafted and adequate funds are allocated to the sector. The nation’s health sector urgently needs rejuvenation therapy.