Experts at a discussion on health rights and private sector reform on Saturday expressed concern over tertiary healthcare being promoted at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare.
Participating in the discussion, Arun Gadre, co-author of ‘Voices of conscience from the medical profession’, said it was unfortunate that primary and secondary healthcare were not covered even under government insurance schemes.
“Only catastrophic illnesses such as cardiac arrest, renal failure and cancer among others are covered. But, if the risk factors for these conditions are treated at the initial stage, then the patients would not land up with major problems,” he said.
Sudha Chandrashekar, project manager at Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust that runs Karnataka government’s insurance schemes, said the Vajpayee Arogyashri for BPL families and Rajiv Arogyashri for APL families covered diseases that could not be treated in the taluk and district hospitals.
Admitting that the government-run facilities need to be strengthened for better management of primary and secondary healthcare, Dr. Chandrashekar said the government was spending crores of rupees on healthcare.
Ashok R. Patil, Chair of Consumer Law and Practice, National Law School, spoke about the widespread unethical and irrational practices in the medical profession. The situation is alarming, he said.
