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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : October 17, 2012 12:08 PM IST
President Pranab Mukherjee again stressed the need for crafting a high quality national healthcare system that can be availed by all segments of society. Health and medical expenses tend to have a debilitating effect on people, pushing many families into poverty.
'Almost 80 per cent of the expenditure on healthcare is met by personal, out of pocket, payment. As many as four crore people plunge into poverty each year due to expenses on medical treatment,' Mukherjee said. He was addressing 40th convocation function of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the Capital.
Mukherjee said India needs to implement the universal health coverage plan in the next two to three years. 'Public spending on health should rise to 2.5 percent of the GDP by the end of twelfth plan period,' he added
The president added that a nation's productivity is linked to the health and well-being of its citizens. 'Economic growth that does not go hand-in-hand with reduction in avoidable mortality and ill health is neither sustainable nor desirable,' the President said. Mukherjee asked the faculty and the students to keep up the good work to ensure that AIIMS emerged among ten best medical universities in the world.
The Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who was also present said that the pieces are in place to establish similar institutions across the country. There's also a move to improve paramedical faculties and setting up the National Institute of Paramedical Sciences along with eight other regional centres is a move in this direction. He said that AIIMS's outreach OPD at Jhajjar, Haryana will be operational by next month.
Also read: What ails India's healthcare system?
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