China spends around 3 per cent of its GDP on healthcare while many developing countries like Zambia spend as much as 11 per cent of their total budget on healthcare.
Speaking to a full house at the three-day conference to commemorate the platinum jubilee of Tata Memorial Centre, Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen (inset) asked quite a few relevant questions.
During his 40-minute session, the Nobel Laureate spoke on ‘Healthcare for All — Why and How’.
“During the 2014 elections, neither the parties nor the people made healthcare an issue,” he said, as he addressed the audience —about 1,300 people — on Saturday. A rapt audience listened to the oral cancer survivor, who at 18 was not given more than a 15 per cent chance of survival. He came down heavily on democratic institutions, including the media and the courts, apart from the common man for not demanding better healthcare facilities.
“India spends a little over one per cent of its GDP on healthcare, and there is wastage even while spending,” said Professor Sen. Comparing India’s healthcare indicators with the rest of the SAARC nations, he said, “While six decades back India was second only to Sri Lanka, now it is second last, ahead only of Pakistan.”
Though Bangladesh is poorer than India, it surpasses us in several indicators like child mortality, infant mortality, girl schooling and immunisation. “Even Nepal has similar or better healthcare indicators when compared to India,” he said.
China spends around 3 per cent of its GDP on healthcare while many developing countries like Zambia spend as much as 11 per cent of their total budget on healthcare.
He questioned the deficit of discussion on healthcare in the public domain, as well as the lack of spending in the public healthcare system. Sen slammed the media for not reporting enough on healthcare, pointing to the absence of editorials on health in most national dailies. He said a study by him and a colleague showed that ‘health’ made it to the editorials of most dailies only once every six months.
Private doctors were not spared either. “Many private doctors know extraordinarily little, combining quackery with crookery,” Sen said. He said poor patients must be protected from exploitation by private doctors.
He said that while India’s economy has grown, “The society’s reach of economic prosperity has been very limited. Unlike China, where money has been used to develop social infrastructure, India has struggled with the momentous handicap of bad healthcare and education.”
Talking of demonetization, he said, “It was a missile that has been launched overnight but we don’t know where it has landed yet.”
Key points from the speech
Healthcare should include other social determinants (nutrition, sanitation and social equity)
Moral hazard involved in subsidising private hospitals for unverified treatments (RSBY) needs radical reform
More recognition needed for the central role of public healthcare
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 "Amartya Sen")
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