Team Herald
PANJIM: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Indu Bhushan on Saturday lamented how on an average 7000 people are slipping into poverty every hour due to healthcare expenses, with the Central government’s budget on health sector being stagnant over the years, despite India slowly emerging as fastest growing economy in the world.
“India’s health sector is full of paradoxes and we see that for the last 70 years. One of the major paradoxes is that 70 percent health needs of the country are supported by the private sector and only 30 percent by the public sector,” Bhushan said, addressing the Healthcare Conference on Ayushman Bharat and its implications on Universal Health Coverage in India, organised by Goa Institute of Management (GIM).
The CEO said that while there have been significant efforts to alleviate poverty in the country, close to six crore people are driven into poverty each year due to healthcare expenses.
“I was astonished by the number six crore and was thinking this mean 7000 people every hour are slipping into poverty, which is about more than 100 people every minute. It is like a leaking bucket. Though a lot of efforts to bring people out of poverty are being initiated, due to health expenses people are getting into poverty which is puzzling outside the perspective,” Bhushan stated.
He said that India is known as a place where one can get good quality, cheap medical care and hence many people are flown to the country, but unfortunately a large portion of our own people don’t have access to good quality health facilities.
“Also if you see, though, India is emerging as the fastest growing economy in the world, our budgetary provision for health has remained stagnant to 1-1.4 percent over the years. When we compare to our neighbouring countries, which are not doing as good as we are in the health sector, we are very low,” he stated. “These are the paradoxes which this PMJAY is aiming to achieve,” he stated.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane reiterated that the PMJAY scheme would be integrated with the State’s Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY).
He said that 36,539 beneficiaries have been identified under the scheme, to provide insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
“While Goa is successfully implementing the DDSSY programme, Ayushman Bharat is a revolutionary programme in many ways. In addition to the many benefits the programme will also lead to the creation of excellent health infrastructure,” he stated.
