Govt needs to increase healthcare outlay in budget: Report

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) Public sector accounts for only30 per cent of the total healthcare expenditure inthe country and investment in building and maintaining publichealth infrastructure needs priority in the forthcoming budgetfor FY 2018-19, a report says.Public sector investment on healthcare accounts forless than 1.5 per cent of GDP, which is one of the lowestglobally, and the government intends to increase theexpenditure to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025.The outlay on healthcare increased by a healthy 28 percent in the last budget and the allocation is likely to see asimilar increase in the forthcoming budget as well, accordingto a report by rating agency Icra.In line with National Health Policy (NHP) 2017, theexpenditure is expected to be directed towards setting up ofnew hospitals to increase the number of beds in the country,and for transformation of existing district and town levelhealth centres to provide better healthcare facilities acrossgeographies while using the existing infrastructure.Public sector accounts for only 30 per cent of thetotal healthcare expenditure in the country, as compared to42-58 per cent in Brazil, 58 per cent in China, 52 per cent inRussia, 50 per cent in South Africa, 48 per cent in USA and 83per cent in UK as per the WHO reports.ICRA believes that investing in building andmaintaining public health infrastructure should be givenpriority in the budget as these facilities are lagging andvast majority of the population has to bear their ownhealthcare costs due to low penetration of health insurance.Besides, along with the setting up of new hospitals,the report recommends setting up of medical colleges andnursing academies to address the shortage of beds and skilledmedical professionals in the country, it said.The budget is also likely to increase the allocationfor addressing the increasing burden of non-communicablediseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases,hypertension and to increase the outlay for providing freedrugs, diagnostics and emergency services across all publichospitals, in line with NHP 2017.Icra suggested that new infrastructure developed through incentives can also be utilised for catering to the growing medical tourism in the country, which is expected to continue to grow by 20 per cent over the next five years generating export revenues and employment.

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