Poor GDP Expenditure On Health Is The Reason Of Poor Health Services In India

The National Health Accounts (NHA) is the body that monitors the flow of resources in the country’s health system providing detailed data on health finances. This week, the India NHA data for 2013-14 was published, after close to a decade, with previous estimates being published in 2004-05. The total healthcare expenditure (THE) for India was Rs. 4.5 lakh Crore, or 4% of GDP. Global evidence on health spending shows that unless at least 5-6% of GDP is spent by a country on health, with the major part of it being government expenditure, basic health care needs are rarely met.

Of the Rs. 4.5 lakh Crores spent, 93% went into Current Health Expenditure (CHE) while only 7% went to Capital Expenditure. Where does the Money Come From? Households contribute 73% to CHE to health financing in India Around 69% of the money circulating in Indian Healthcare is out of pocket (OOP) payments made by…