With an abysmal record on health care spending and one ofthe world’s poorest populations, you’d expect India to be a sick country. Butwhat’s surprising is that the situation is arguably getting worse faster thanit’s getting better.
According to a national daily, about 37 percent of Indiandeaths are still caused by “poor country” diseases like tuberculosis andmalaria -- or plain old diarrhea. But as many as 53 percent of deaths are nowcaused by “rich country” problems like heart failure and diabetes -- suggestingthat lifestyle-related health problems are multiplying faster than the countrycan eliminate diseases related to vaccination programs and hygiene.
Perhaps worse still, the country is hardly making anyprogress against those “poor country” problems, considering its rapid economicgrowth.
“Even Bangladesh, with no economic superpower claims, hasmanaged to reduce maternal mortality rate (MMR) from 320 per 100,000 livebirths in 2001 to 194 by 2010. In India, MMR continues to be as high as 212,”the national daily writes.
Every year, 1.73 million “children under five years die inIndia, most of them before their first birthday. The infant mortality rate of50 deaths per 1000 live births in 2009 is inching down ” it was 58 in 2005 ”but look at Bangladesh: they have reduced it from 102 in 1990 to 41 in 2009.”
Despite the crisis, the government appears to be doingvirtually nothing. Over the last five years, government spending on health carehas been laughably low. In 2007-08, it was 0.9% of India’s GDP. Five yearslater (2011-12), combined expenditure on health had doubled in absolute terms,but as a share of GDP it remained at 1%, according to the paper. And now? Now, the government is proposing to hike public spending on health byhalf a percentage point ” 1.6% of GDP “ which has health activists outraged.
The result is that “the country with the largest number ofpoor people ” and the biggest chunk of patients ” in the world also has themost privatized healthcare system of all nations,” the paper concludes.
“To compound the problem, India has low medical insurancepenetration. Lack of affordable and easily accessible state healthinfrastructure forces people into the waiting arms of profit-seeking privatehospitals in ever-larger numbers, putting an enormous load on already stretchedfacilities. It opens the doors to unscrupulous operators fleecing poorpatients. It also paves the way for neglect and tragedies that occasionallymake headlines.”
