The state's health budget has declined 4.4 per cent from Rs 12,726 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 12,167 crore proposed for 2017-18.
In the wee hours of Monday when a patient under the influence of alcohol injured the forearm of a resident doctor at KEM Hospital, it again brought to the forefront the patient-doctor conflict that led to a week-long strike in the city hospitals last month. On one side is a patient who comes to the public healthcare system because it is virtually free, and on the other is a resident doctor and has cracked a highly competitive exam and spent over half a dozen gruelling years studying. It is a system that should ideally work well - but it doesn't.
Crumbling infrastructure and rising number of patients are just some of the problems. According to civil society organisation Jan Arogya Abhiyan, that analzyed Maharashtra's health budget, the government needs to increase its spending by 35 per cent annually for the next eight years to come on par with the recommendation of the National Health Policy for state governments. Presently, Maharashtra spends an abysmal 0.5 per cent of its GDP on healthcare.
The state's health budget has declined 4.4 per cent from Rs 12,726 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 12,167 crore proposed for 2017-18. Funding for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) was slashed by as much as 31 per cent despite a series of malnutrition deaths in Palghar district.
The resident doctor becomes an easy target for the frustrated patient facing the system's apathy. In turn, the doctors too are losing the motivation to remain in the public healthcare system — with not just the respect missing but also a real threat to life, as recent incidents have demonstrated. Providing greater security is a cosmetic solution. Our healthcare system needs greater funding and it needs it right now. Are we ready to make universal healthcare our priority?
Maharashtra needs to increase its spending by 35% annually for the next eight years to come on par with the recommendation of the National Health Policy for state governments. Presently the state government spends an abysmal 0.5% of its GDP on healthcare.
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