Don’t follow US model blindly, urges IMA president
Dr.Marthanda Pillai, the national president of the Indian Medical Association, shot an array of criticisms at the draft new health policy (dNHP). Dr. Pillai, a leading neurosurgeon who received the Padma Shri award for his work in neurosurgery and service to the poor in performing surgeries free of cost, feels that the dNHP is not up to mark. He pointed out that the American model of insurance-driven healthcare would not positively impact the poor, instead, it would simply benefit the insurance companies. He laid great emphasis on the fact that India’s public expenditure on health is one of the lowest in the world. It is a meagre 1.2% of the GDP at present. He says that this is the major reason for the poor health status of the country. He further drew attention to the fact that various health programmes and policies in the past have not been able to achieve the desired results.
When Dr. Pillai served in the government Health Service he oversaw the improvement of the neurosurgical services, taking it to one of the best at the national level. In view of the recent policy, Dr.Pillai wishes the Union Government to ensure that more focus is given to strengthen primary, secondary and tertiary-care services. He believes that the policy is giving undue importance to corporate sector forgetting the fact that a majority of healthcare in the country is still delivered by small-scale institutions. He says that the Government policy should aim to sustain and promote these small and medium-scale institutions so that affordability and accessibility is not affected. Also, the government should consciously discourage the corporate culture in healthcare since it would push up the cost of treatment and affect accessibility since all the corporate hospitals are city centered. In all, Dr.Pillai fears that the draft new health policy lacks clear direction and may lead to unregulated, uncontrolled expansion without truly benefiting the country’s health.
The dNHP is in the public domain and was open for comments, feedback and suggestion until 10th March and is available here – Link.
