India needs more investment in public healthcare

World Health Organization’s Representative to India Dr. Henk Bekedam has stated that, India needs to increase its investment in the public healthcare sector to give shape to a robust health delivery system which includes infrastructure and human resources. This is essential for sustainable economic growth for India as any investment in health is investment in India’s growth story. India has to thus seriously work towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals.

Although India has made rapid progress in the healthcare sector in the recent past, there are still more than 60 million people who are living in abject poverty through paying healthcare bills primarily due to low investment in health, inadequate financial protection and also high out-of-pocket expenditure.

WHO has proposed a few steps to work in coordination with the Indian government to put health on higher agenda both on national and state levels. These include investment, fostering the systems of detection and response to outbreaks of emerging diseases, increase in effective financial protection in addition to strong monitoring and evaluation system.