Is Health all about wealth??

Though India is gradually gaining a worldwide recognition for affordable health services and emerging as a Health Tourism Hub, try accessing quality healthcare services in India, and you feel the pinch of the ever rising costs- of the medicines, of the services, of the diagnostic tests.

WHO estimates reveal appalling facts, “65% of India’s population lacks regular access to essential medicines. The cost of medicines is one of the largest factors contributing to this breach of human dignity. Healthcare expenditure is the second greatest cause of rural indebtedness in India today”. As of 2008, 72 per cent of total healthcare expenditure was privately funded, 89.5% of which was paid out of pocket by patients. Between 1999-2000, 32.5 million patients fell below the poverty line after just a single hospitalization, 40% of those hospitalized are forced to borrow money or sell assets to meet costs, and 23% of ill patients simply never seek treatment because of their inability to pay.These are not mere statistics but stark real facts.

Well….all of us know, there is a problem, Is There A Do-Able Solution. Can we implement the worldwide practiced model of “Govt. funded access to medicine”?

A recent study conducted by Prayas, an NGO based in Rajasthan shows that the treatment of all patients who suffer from diseases manageable in OPD is possible in about Rs. 6000 crore annually. AND, this is just 10% of the annual national allocation for NREGS.  

The rationale behind asking for free treatment is that medicines purchased by patients from the local chemist can be between 2 to 40 times more expensive than the bulk prices offered to retailers, private hospitals, nursing homes and government agencies. The bulk procurement prices sold to governments and retailers are very different than the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) sold to patients, even for generic medication. According to estimates by the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and a research study carried out by some Government institutes, if the Government procures medicines at bulk prices, the cost of treating all Indian OPD patients would be Rs. 6000 crores. On the other hand, if the same medicines are procured by individuals, the estimated cost would touch a figure of Rs. 25,000 crores.

Access to basic healthcare is the universal right of all citizens of India. The free treatment scheme would not only reduce poor people’s spending on health but will also provide an affordable and viable solution to one of the major healthcare problems of India.