Skip to main content

It's a pity: Small neighbours Bhutan, Sri Lanka offer free universal healthcare, not India

By Prem Verma*
The spread of coronavirus in India and the subsequent misery of the Migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, intensive care units (ICUs), absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc.
It is a great pity that while our neighbouring small nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka provide free universal healthcare for all its citizens, India is still struggling with healthcare schemes that cover only partially a small sector of our population that have to struggle meaninglessly for a gold/red/blue, etc. card to become eligible for partial healthcare facility.
Almost all advanced nations like UK, France, Switzerland, Canada and a host of others provide free universal healthcare for all of their citizens irrespective of income status. Other countries like Cuba, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, etc. also cover all their citizens with universal healthcare. Why India does not think in this direction and consider providing free healthcare for its citizens a top priority is a mystery unsolved.
The argument that we do not have money for providing free healthcare for all is spurious, because if defence requires  huge allocation, money somehow is made available. Defence is the top priority but citizens’ health is at the bottom of the list. If citizens are not healthy, whom are we trying to protect  by amassing armaments?
What is the present scenario? India’s annual budget is Rs 27,84,200 crore (2019-20). Out of this allocation for health sector is a mere 2%, i.e. Rs 63,538 crore whereas the defence budget is 11%, i.e. Rs 2,82,733 crore. Thus India’s defence budget is five and a half times the Health budget.
Let us see how other nations, who provide free universal healthcare to all its citizens, do their allocation for healthcare from their budget.
India’s current population is 136 crore and average annual expenditure incurred by its citizens on their healthcare is Rs 2,465. This means that to cover all its citizens with free universal healthcare, an annual fund of Rs 3,35,240 crore is required to be allocated to health sector, i.e. 12% of Budget. Is that impossible? If health of its citizens is top priority for a nation, can we give an excuse that due to non-allocation of required resources health sector will continue to suffer?
Defence is the top priority but citizens’ health is at the bottom of the list. If citizens are not healthy, whom are we trying to protect  by amassing armaments?
The Government of India’s apathy towards healthcare delivery to its citizens is borne out by the following facts as stated by Saif Kamal, a Tata Institute of Social Sciences scholar:
“There is only one Government allopathic doctor per 10,189 people, only one Government hospital bed per 2,046 people, and one state run Hospital per 90,343 people. Out of 1 million doctors in the country, only 10% of them work in public health sector. They lack good infrastructure, proper management, dedicated staff and many other things which are required to provide reasonable and appropriate healthcare.”
Malnutrition is a serious problem in India. According to Unicef at least 3,000 children die due to malnutrition every day in this country and every year 10,00,000 children die below the age of five.
In Global Health ranking India’s position is 145th out of 195 countries, even below Nepal. Bhutan and Sri Lanka:
 Medical costs are one of the primary causes of poverty in India. Around 63 million Indians fall into poverty each year because of health care bills, and 70 percent of all charges are paid directly by patients.
Due to lack of proper and adequate healthcare delivery from the state run hospitals, patients are forced to seek relief from private hospitals where the charges are abnormally high. This results in the poor patient being forced to incur very high out-of-pocket expenditure and this forces him to sell his assets, property or land and drives him ultimately below the poverty line.
When we compare per capita expenditure on health for various countries, we find India at the bottom of the list as shown below:
A large country like India, where 70% of total population resides in rural areas, continues to be biased in its healthcare delivery in favour of the urban population. Instead of relying on preventive care and well equipped primary health centres in semi-urban and rural areas, the emphasis has been on city hospitals which become overcrowded and suffer from population pressure.
The Constitution incorporates provisions guaranteeing everyone’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every citizen.
The Supreme Court has held that the right to live with human dignity, enshrined in Article 21, derives from the directive principles of state policy and therefore includes protection of health. Further, it has also been held that the right to health is integral to the right to life and the government has a constitutional obligation to provide health facilities.
Failure of a government hospital to provide a patient timely medical treatment results in violation of the patient’s right to life. Similarly, the Court has upheld the state’s obligation to maintain health services.
It is therefore imperative that we make free universal healthcare for all our citizens a goal to be achieved in the nearest future. A healthy nation is a happy nation and the exorbitant amount that the rural population has to shell out today for healthcare from their meagre personal earnings leading to extreme poverty can be totally avoided.
---
*Convener, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas,Ranchi

Comments

Spectrum PSP said…
Very Informative Article! Thanks for sharing.

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

Union Health Ministry, FSSAI 'fail to respond' to NHRC directive on packaged food

By Our Representative  The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern over the adverse health effects caused by packaged foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Recognizing it as a violation of the Right to Life and Right to Health of Indian citizens, the quasi-judicial body called for a response from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding its selection of front-of-pack labels aimed at providing consumers with information to make healthier choices.