Page 21 - Htain Manual

F
inancing health care in India has assumed critical importance both for the

government and for households. In spite of sustained efforts and

recommendations by various committees and commissions, allocation to

health sector by the government remained abysmally low. The National Health Policy-2002
aimed to increase the public health spending to about 2 per cent of GDP. But a decade later

the public spending on healthcare remains around 1.1 per cent of GDP. (National Health

Accounts-2014-15). The National Health Policy -2017 has set a target of 2.5 % of the GDP to
be achieved by 2025, but current trends indicate that even this modest target would be

challenging. Further, in terms of allocation of resources to health sector, government health

expenditure has also been shrinking and is at present down to a level of 3.9 per cent of total

government expenditure, from more than 5 percent during early 2000. Over the last decade,

total health care spending in the country ( both government and non-government
expenditure taken together) has also declined from 4.25 percent to 3.9 percent of GDP.

In the expanding
Chart-1 Health Expenditure as % of GDP in India
health care markets, any
Share of Govt Share of Hhs Others
reduction in the government
5 0.10
0.15
spending is borne by the 4
4
households due to the near 3
3.32 2.72
3
absence of pooling 2
2
mechanisms. While access to
1 1.15
0.84
public health care services 1
-
have improved considerably 2004-05 2013-14
over the last decade, particularly after the initiation of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM),

they remain far from adequate to meet the majority of health needs of the population. Private

health care providers have grown to fill these gaps and dominate the market, in spite of higher

cost of care. Of the total per-capita expenditure on health of Rs.3,826 in 2014-15, nearly

Rs.2,400 was spent by households as out-of-pocket expenditure. Such high costs often
impoverish households, particularly the vulnerable and rural households.

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