#Budget2018: World’s largest health care programme?
Yes, it has humane provisions.But is this enough?Why will it never be enough if we miss this crucial discussion?
Scroll down and read the post.Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced two new initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Program in the Union Budget 2018.
- Under the programme, the new Flagship National Health Protection Scheme will provide health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year. The Scheme will cover 10 crore, vulnerable families,.
Total 50 core beneficiaries.
Not sure about the criteria for choosing beneficiaries nor about the method this money will be made available,
but it sounds promising. - Mr. Jaitley announced the creation of 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness centers, which will “bring healthcare closer to home”. These will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.This sounds good too.But with very big but.Rs. 1200 crores have been allocated for this.
- Plus 24 new Government Medical Colleges to increase the number of doctors.
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Union government’s spending on health and family welfare amounted to merely 0.3% of GDP, budget data shows.
The National Health Policy, 2017 had declared increasing public health spending from 1.15% of GDP to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025.
India is a developing economy.Until we can control population there will not be enough fiscal space to increase spending on critical social infrastructure like education and health in India.”
There are many reasons for the failure of population control in India
- Inadequate budget allocations for family planning.
- Not spending the budget appropriately.
- Lack of proactive awareness campaign to make people pro-family planning.We have to keep in mind the diverse social fabric of India and the lack of penetration of health awareness.
- The abysmal state of coordination between the center and states for planning, implementation and setting benchmarks.
- Total lack of transparency in the progress made in this sector,
- No proper target setting and ignoring the root cause of bursting population. With poor health, the unskilled and uneducated population this increased health allocation is still insufficient.Making the growing population a growing problem for the nation
- Population control must be made an urgent and essential part of healthcare reforms.
[bctt tweet=”Even 5 lakhs will be insufficient funds for the healthcare of a family of 10. #Budget2018 Lets talk Family planning effectively !” username=”misra_amrita”]
Family planning must be incentivized(hoping it will work then ) but voluntary, following informed choice(difficult if the target population is uneducated) and consent of citizens.
Financial Management Report (FMR) data analysis shows: The Financial year 2016-17, 60.7% of the funds available for family planning were spent. The question is why??
Further investigation reveals:
- Severely skewed allocations for FP even though there were policy decisions to promote spacing methods and improve the quality of care.
- This is evident from the fact that 64% of the 2016-17 FP budget was allocated to terminal and limiting methods of contraception, while just 3.7% was allocated for spacing.
- 40% of the budget for spacing methods were unutilized in 2016-17.
Now the question arises?
Why can’t we make population control one of the main objectives? That makes providing healthcare easier, safer and more beneficial for everyone.
Why will no government talk about this aggressively?
Why is there no help for the middle class?
Why is there no help for tax paying citizens who need healthcare help too?
Why is there no provision for doctors who provide public service?Will killing the goose give you more Golden Eggs?
Do you have answers ?
What is your opinion about the Budget 2018 Health?
Comment below to let me know.
- References and further reading
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/drnszDrkbt418WpuQEHfZI/Budget-2018-Indias-health-sector-needs-more-funds-and-bett.html - Healthcare Policy India
- National Medical CouncilBill: Secrets no one tells you
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very well said. population control should be made mandatory and should be implemented so that facilities reach those who truly deserve. things are very different at the ground level and the government needs to keep these in mind while making financial policies.
Seriously!
While some steps are been taken we are always ten years behind. This should have been done ten years back so that we are not where we are now. India probably needs to follow the one/two policy like China if we ever want to control our population.
True true
Very valid questions raised and even though I don’t have an answer to resolution bit I agree with you. Family planning and controlling population explosion is must. There are many issues related to this root cause as you rightly said we have finite resources
Exactly my point.
Population control will remain a serious issue unless the government start providing resources to the doctors and hospitals., Grant and aids for implementing the updated technology and off course quality service.
Yes true.
Healthcare is one area which needs massive improvement in India. We have the best of doctors and best of facilities but are they reaching the people who need it the most? Also merely providing one subsidy in isolation is not going to do any benefit. It must be a multi pronged approach and as you rightly said population explosion must be controlled.
Yes, Nayantara.It needs to be multipronged.
Yes thats a must.
Because population explosion falls under the perview of religion, societal Norms and age old beliefs. As long as these bonds exist, nobody will bell the cat.
If the wealthy pay more taxes for healthcare won’t it help the poor too? But the finance minister was clueless about how will they make it happen.
Good point.But one question remains.That is of quality of healthcare.Unfortunately both quality and quantity depend on resources which are finite .But the population explosion is a real problem.Until we address the underlying disease, many things will be just make up. not cure.But we are hopeful.A step forward definitely.