Covid has taught us how important it is to spend on health. The world’s large countries spend more than 6 percent of their GDP on health. In comparison, the expenditure in India is much less. But the good thing is that now the government is increasing health spending.
Recently, the Ministry of Health has published the ‘National Health Account’ report, which provides information on health spending in 2021-22. It indicates how much the central and state governments spent on health in 2021-22 and how much people spent from their own pockets.
This report says that in 2021-22, more than Rs 9 lakh crore was spent on health across the country. This was 3.83 percent of total GDP. However, it includes all types of expenses.
How much does the government spend on people’s health?
This report shows that governments spent Rs 4.34 lakh crore on health in 2021-22. In this way, the public expenditure on health for each person amounted to Rs 3,169.
If the average daily health expenditure of a person is calculated, the result is less than Rs 9.
If statistics are to be believed, public spending has increased significantly compared to before. In 2014-15, the public health expenditure on each person was Rs 1,108. According to this, each person’s health spending has tripled between 2014-15 and 2021-22.
How much did people spend out of their own pockets?
When the National Health Account report was published in 2014-15, it recommended that governments spend at least 5 per cent of GDP on health. The Economic Study also said that between 2.5 and 3 percent of GDP should be spent on health, in order to reduce the population’s spending.
India has set a target of spending 2.5 percent of GDP on health by 2025. However, currently the government does not spend even 2 percent of GDP on health.
The report shows that in 2021-22, people spent a total of Rs 3.56 lakh crore from their own pockets on health. According to this, each person spends an average of Rs 2,600 per year on their health.
According to the Health Account report, of the total health expenditure across the country in 2021-22, 39.4 per cent was spent by people out of their own pockets. This has been reduced considerably. While, of the health expenditure in 2014-15, more than 62.5 per cent was spent by the people themselves.
The lower people’s out-of-pocket spending on health, the better it is considered. This is because it is understood that government health facilities are reaching out to the people.
How important is it to increase public spending on health?
It is important to increase government spending on health in India because more than 80 million people are poor here. While health spending is increasing.
According to the National Health Profile 2021, if a person from the village is admitted to a government hospital, his average expenditure is Rs 4,290. At the same time, on admission to a private hospital in the village, he has to spend Rs 22,992. Similarly, the cost of admission in a public hospital in the city is Rs 4,837 and Rs 38,822 in a private hospital.
Whereas the average annual income of every person in the country is around Rs 1.84 lakh. If this person is admitted to a private hospital when his health deteriorates, then his two or three months’ income is spent only on paying the bills.
Poverty also increases due to out-of-pocket spending. In the National Health Policy of 2015, it was said that every year 6.3 million people have to fight poverty due to out-of-pocket expenditure on health.
Not only this, people are also forced to commit suicide after getting fed up with the disease. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report, the second leading cause of suicide was illness. In 2022, 31,484 people, fed up with the disease, committed suicide.
