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CHAPTER 1

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN INDIA (HTAIn)

1. INTRODUCTION

Health technology assessment (HTA) is widely used methodology internationally

for optimization of resource allocation in health. It is a multidisciplinary process that
gathers policy relevant evidence about the medical (clinical effectiveness), economic

(cost effectiveness), social and ethical issues related to the use of a health intervention

in a systematic, inclusive, transparent and robust manner to assist policy makers in

decision making while formulating policies for incorporating or excluding health

interventions from the health system.
Recognizing the importance of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in healthcare

decision making guided by considerations of scientific evidence on clinical

effectiveness, cost effectiveness, social values and equity issues Government of India

has set up an institutional structure called as “Health Technology Assessment in India

(HTAIn)” under the Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare (MoHFW). HTAIn is entrusted with the responsibility to analyze

evidences related to cost-effectiveness, clinical-effectiveness and equity issues regarding

the deployment of health technologies viz. medicines, devices and health programmes

by means of HTA in India, and in turn help in efficient use of the limited health budget

and provide people access to quality healthcare at minimum cost.

1.1. Purpose of establishing HTAIn

The Government of India is committed to extend healthcare services to its 1.34

billion population as part of India’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda. One of

the most important challenges in India that warrant immediate attention is increasing
catastrophic out of pocket expenditures (OOP) in healthcare. According to National

Health Accounts Report 2017-18 Household’s Out of Pocket Expenditure on health

(OOPE) was 61% of total health expenditure (1). 2017 World Bank report estimated the

OOP spending on healthcare in India to be as high as 62% (2). Extending adequate

healthcare services to the population requires optimal utilization of existing resources
to ensure that the greatest amount of health is bought for every rupee spent. National

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