India's healthcare spending lower than Sudan, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi, with very high "catastrophic spending"

By Our Representative
A research paper published in a top San Francisco-based multidisciplinary open access journal by a non-profit, PLOS, has said that the public health spending in India (4% of GDP) is among the lowest, not only in the larger economies of the world, but also compared to poorer countries such as Malawi (8.3%), Namibia (7.7%), Tanzania (7.3%) and Sudan (6.5%).
Insisting that India needs to “prioritise” its public health spending, especially Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) entitlements, in order to address the “exceedingly high Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures (OOPE) that many women incur for maternity care”, the paper says, this is particularly important “given the large disparities in the cost of maternity care between public and private health facilities.”
Insisting that “there is also a need to control the sky-rocketing costs of private health care services, and increase the availability and accessibility of quality public health facilities for maternity care in India”, the paper says, India remains “the highest contributor in terms of absolute numbers of female deaths occurring in the world due to pregnancy-related causes.”
“In 2014, India along with Nigeria accounted for one-third of all global maternal deaths, with 17% (50,000) in India and 14% (40,000) in Nigeria.”, the paper, titled “High Spending on Maternity Care in India: What Are the Factors Explaining It?”, the paper adds.
“Further”, the it complains, “Public expenditure on healthcare in India has stagnated since the early 1990s. Government expenditure on health care is considerably low compared to other countries with similar levels of per-capita income, inequality and poverty.”
“On the other hand”, it adds, “the private healthcare industry has witnessed an unprecedented boom, growing at a rate of over 15% compounded annually, more than twice the growth rate for all services over the same period.”
“As a consequence, the pattern of current health spending suggests that households meet 71% of their total health spending, with government contributions accounting for only 20% (Central), 6% (State) and the remaining 2% made up by local bodies, other firms and external flows respectively”, the paper underlines.
Commenting on Government of India efforts to reduce OOPE on maternal health care services, and improve maternal health outcomes in the country, through JSY, the world’s largest Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme under the National Health Mission (NHM), the paper says, it is “grossly insufficient” in providing “quality health care services” a forte of private health care facilities.
“Government health services in India are marred by unavailability and absenteeism of health professionals, poor health care facility and infrastructure, shortage of drugs and equipment, physical inaccessibility and some anecdotal evidence of callous behaviour of healthcare professionals”, the paper says.
Pointing out that “maternal healthcare related expenditures” are becoming “catastrophic for households”, the paper, which is based on the 2016 National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report, “Key Indicators of the Social Consumption in India: Health”, says, “The average Cost of ANCs and PNCs per pregnancy were US$ 46 and US$ 28 respectively, with delivery expenditure (US$ 160) accounting for the largest share of average Total Maternity Expenditure or TME (US$ 258)”.
Revealing that the lowest earning (5% of all households) spent 75% of what it calls households' catastrophic maternal expenditure or CME, the paper says, “The proportion reduced with the rise in the income level – “to 50% the 10% threshold level and further decreased to 34% at 15% level”, the paper underscores.
“Average spending on total maternity cost was US$235 among women in the age group of 15–24 years, US$ 241 in the age-group 25–29 years, falling to US$ 225 for women aged 30–49 years”, the report states, adding, “Urban women incurred higher maternity expenditure (US$ 326) than their rural counterparts (US$ 196).”

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NYT seeks UN intervention, says: Modi turning autocratic, talks absurd on Kashmir

By Our Representative
In what appears to be a scathing reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-publicized “New York Times” (NYT) article on Mahatma Gandhi titled “Why India and the World need Gandhi”, NYT’s powerful editorial board has said, Modi “didn’t address” the Kashmir issue in his United Nations (UN) speech, calling his assertion at the Houston rally a few days – that revoking the constitutional clause on Kashmiri autonomy meant “people there have got equal rights” with other Indians – “absurd”.

Ceramic worker dies: 20,000 workers in Thangadh, Gujarat, 'risk' deadly silicosis

By Our Representative
Even as the country was busy preparing for the Janmashtami festival on Saturday, Hareshbhai, a 46-year-old ceramic worker from suffering from the fatal lung disease silicosis, passed away. He worked in a ceramic unit in Thangadh in Surendranagar district of Gujarat from 2000 to 2016.
Hareshbhai was diagnosed with the disease by the GCS Medical College, Naroda Road, Ahmedabad in 2014. He was found to be suffering from progressive massive fibrosis. He is left behind by his wife Rekha sister and two sons Deepak (18) and Umesh (12),
The death of Hareshbhai, says Jagdish Patel of the health rights group Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), suggests that silicosis, an occupational disease, can be prevented but not cured, and the Factory Act has sufficient provisions to prevent this.
According to Patel, the pottery industry in the industrial town of Thangadh has evolved for a long time and locals as well as migrant workers are employed here. There are abou…

Gujarat's incomplete canals: Narmada dam filled up, yet benefits 'won't reach' farmers

By Our Representative
Even as the Gujarat government is making all out efforts to fill up the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river up to the full reservoir level (FRL), a senior farmer rights leader has said the huge reservoir, as of today, remains a “mirage for the farmers of Gujarat”.
In a statement, Sagar Rabari of the Khedut Ekta Manch (KEM), has said that though the dam’s reservoir is being filled up, the canal network remains complete. Quoting latest government figures, he says, meanwhile, the command area of the dam has been reduced from 18,45,000 hectares (ha) to 17,92,000 ha.
“According to the website of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, which was last updated on Friday, while the main canal, of 458 km long, has been completed, 144 km of ranch canals out of the proposed length of 2731 km remain incomplete.
Then, as against the targeted 4,569 km distributaries, 4,347 km have been constructed, suggesting work for 222 km is still pending. And of the 15,670 km of minor canal…

Cess for Gujarat construction workers: Spending less than 10%; no 'direct help' to beneficiaries

By Our Representative
While the Gujarat government’s Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, set up in 2004, as of March 31, 2019, has collected a total cess of Rs 2,097.62 crore from the the builders, it has spent less than 10% -- Rs 197.17 crore. And, as on May 31, 2019, the total cess collection has reached Rs 2,583.16 crore, said a statement issued by Bandhkam Majur Sagathan general secretary Vipul Pandya.
Pointing out that just about 6.5 lakh out of 20 lakh workers have been registered under the board, Pandya said, vis-à-vis other states, Gujarat ranks No 13th in the amount spent on the welfare of the construction workers, while 11th in the amount collected.
And while the builders are obliged to pay just about 1% of the total cost of their project, the calculation of the cess is flawed: It is Rs 3,000 per square yard; accordingly, Rs 30 per square yard is collected. “Had the cess been collected on the real construction cost, it would have been at least Rs 7,000 cr…

Why nobody objected to Gautam Gambhir, Sunny Deol in t-shirt, jean?: Activists

By Our Representative
Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan’s excitement on their first day as MPs was overshadowed by a barrage of sexism over their ‘non- sanskari’ outfits, a group of civil society activists have said in a statement. According to Aarushi Nigam, Divya Kaushik, Riya Sharma, Ruman Ganguly, and Anulekha Agarwal, both Bengali actors and first-time MPs "were certainly excited to take them on when they posted pictures from their new workplace on social media."
Hit by misogynistic comments, the activists say, "Their choice of workwear – jeans and a white button-down shirt for Mimi, a wine-coloured peplum suit for Nusrat – was the first and last word on their political competence for many."
“You’re not on vacation”, “they have mistaken Parliament for Kolkata’s Nicco Park or City Centre”, “this is not a photo studio, this is a place where you should fight for people’s rights and legislate”, “keep some respect towards your Bengali society” were some of the &quo…

132 Gujarat citizens, including IIM-A faculty, others declare solidarity with Kashmiris

Counterview Desk
A week after it was floated, 132 activists, academics, students, artists and other concerned citizens of Gujarat, backed by 118 living in different parts of India and the world, have signed a "solidarity letter" supporting the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), who, it claims, have been silenced and held captive in their own land. The signatories include faculty members and scholars of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Amit Shah 'wrong': Lack of transparency characterized bank frauds, NPAs, jobs data

Counterview Desk
India's senior RTI activists Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bhardwaj, Venktesh Nayak, Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, Dr. Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, Pankti Jog and Pradip Pradhan, who are attached with the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), have said that Union home minister Amit Shah's claim that the Government of India is committed to transparency stands in sharp contrast to its actual actions.

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