Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Published : April 6, 2015 10:29 AM IST
The healthcare sector was disappointed with the announcement of the Union Budget 2015-16 as the healthcare budget was slashed. Public health has often been the most neglected issue by the government, and President Pranab Mukherjee has taken note of it.
During the inauguration of Mid-Term Meet of the National Interventional Council of the Cardiological Society of India, he said that India's public health expenditure was meagre. He further said that India needs an effective, affordable and universal health care system that is strongly backed by a robust infrastructure.
The Hindu reported the President saying that for every 10,000 people in the country there are only seven hospital beds in India which is very low as compared to 23 in Brazil, 38 in China and 97 in Russia. He said that we also lag behind in terms of healthcare professionals as compared to other BRIC countries and the healthcare system in India suffers from the lack of reach and quality constraints. (Read:What ails India's healthcare system)
He further said that India s per capita government expenditure on health in PPP terms is US Dollar 44, as against 809 in Russia, 474 in Brazil and 236 in China. He emphasized the need for urgent and a significant rise in health expenditure to ensure universal health coverage.'
Only 17% of India's population has health cover as on March 2014 and the government needed to cater to the uncovered population by bringing them under the security net, said the President. He explained that an insured population will also be a healthy population, which will exhibit a greater propensity to seek education, acquire knowledge and access job opportunities. Good health and fitness of the people will truly be a reflection of our country s progress. (Read: Can technology fix a broken healthcare system?)
Image source: India.com
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