India is struggling at peak level in the second wave of Covid pandemic and third wave is expected within six to eight months, it can be seen by reaching no of infected patients are more than four lakh per day and no of death more than four thousand. This is the highest point we have achieved and our rank is second in the world after the USA. An abnormal health emergency is facing by the near about 140crores population.
This situation was also faced near about 100 years before when health emergency was at the time of the British Period but now we have a democratic system represented by the elected government in free India, Public health is the duty of elected government, although it is said we have a federal system where it is central and state governments and both have separate list and health is a state subject and role of central government is a facilitator but in case of a health emergency, all rights and power is vested in central government and the state is autonomous but have to do accordingly as per central directions.
It’s said that health is wealth and we have several health-related plans and programmes at the state and central level but it has not become a priority and so the graph of public health is going downward. There are two issues, one is Covid and the other is our population is mostly affected by one of the diseases like cancer, TB, cardiac, diabetes, high and low blood pressure and mental stress and anxiety etc.
It’s also true that people are also responsible for the poor state of public health. When there is a lack of healthy air, water, food articles, dairy products availability, then how can public health be improved and another aspect is addiction particularly among youth of drugs, liquor, tobacco, cigarette and bidi, jarda than how can the public health be improved and both issues cooperating to each other today.
Here the budget of government on the health sector has an importance which can make a sound health system. We don’t have universal health care system for non-working and unorganized class and health insurance like Mediclaim policy is so dear that can not be affordable for a mass population which is forcing the lower and middle class to take a loan or withdraw the PF amount permanently at the time of present Covid period.
The cost of treatment particularly in the private sector is increasing abruptly and there is no price control of the government and they are charging abnormal price and rate and doing black marketing and profiteering which is making poor and middle-class earner poorer.
As per the national health policy,2017, the government expenditure on public health must be 1percent to 2.5to3percent of GDP but the central government allocated only 0.34 per cent of GDP in 2021-22. As per the fifteenth finance commission if the government wants public health expenditure of more than 2.5 per cent of GDP the central government will have to allocate a budget twice 0.68 per cent of GDP. The economic survey states that if we allocate 3 per cent of GDP to the public health sector the pocket expenditure of people on average will be reduced to 30 per cent which is 60 per cent now. From point of view of quality and accessibility in the world, our rank is 145 among 180 nations and the priority of government budget is 179 rank among 189 nations. It shows where we stand. So we need more public health expenditure budget by curtailing other departments budget because it’s really a question of health emergency and we have to fight to what extent, no one can say and forecast.
