According to President of the Indian Medical Association, investment in health has stagnated & hospitals in the government sector should be strengthened, stated Dr R.V. Asokan.
Dr Asokan also said that investment in the health landscape has stagnated even as disease burdens have started increasing.
“Our health investment has stagnated at 1.1% of the GDP for many years. This underfunding is a reason for poor infrastructure and lack of human resources. So we feel without including the budget of drinking water sanitation, which we call health determinants, the core health budget should be at least 2.5 per cent...,” he told ANI.
“We would want that the public sector [hospitals] be strengthened and human resources increase,” he added.
Further, stating that the flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme is very important initiative of the government of India, Dr Asokan said that he feels it requires restructuring in order to be benefited by the private hospitals.
“Two-third of the funding for Ayushman Bharat goes to government hospitals. I think that’s not a great idea because the people are not feeling the relief. Because already it is free. So, it is another way of funding the government hospitals, rather through insurance companies, where they take a share of service provision for 10 to 15 per cent, which is a poor way of funding our government hospitals,” Dr. Asokan said.
“We feel the Ayushman Bharat should be restructured for strategic purchases from the private sector and the government has its own channels to fund public sector hospitals through direct sources,” President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said.
