Around 6.5 crore people in India are pushed into poverty each year because of the high costs of healthcare. The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry is organizing a roundtable discussion to find solutions for quality and affordable healthcare for everyone in Telangana. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, an author of National Health Mission and founder of the Loksatta Party, commended the initiative taken by an industrial association to draft a vision document for 2030 on the subject.
58% of healthcare expenditure in India is paid out of pocket, and 90% of Indians work in the unorganized sector and do not have access to health insurance. Dr. Narayan rejected the idea that private insurance is the solution to healthcare and pointed out that the quality of family healthcare in India is poor. The USA spends one-third of its GDP on healthcare delivery but is still the worst among rich countries with high cost and low impact.
Dr. Narayan emphasized the importance of deploying trained healthcare professionals and improving access to healthcare facilities. India has only 3.2 million trained healthcare professionals, while the USA has 6.9 million. For better access to healthcare, India needs to reach at least a 10 million mark.
Hyderabad does about 200 bypasses and 200 new replacement surgeries every month, and India is emerging as the world hub for overseas healthcare. Nearly one million overseas people are likely to spend $13.8 billion this year on treatment in India.
Dr. GVS Murthy, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, suggested focusing on affordability, accessibility, acceptability, accountability, auditability, and adaptability in a vision document for quality and affordable healthcare for all in Telangana. He also suggested emphasizing preparedness of healthcare systems, prevention, partnerships, patient-centered care, population-based primary care, participatory care, and point-of-care diagnostics.
