‘Low spending on health stalling affordable care’

ICMR Director General Soumya Swaminathan before delivering the Administrative Staff College of India’s 60th Foundation Day lecture in Hyderabad on Wednesday. -Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Soumya Swaminathan termed inadequate medical research, absence of indigenous drug development and low spending on health the main factors deterring affordable healthcare in nation.

“It is estimated that nearly a million people in the country go below the poverty line every year because of catastrophic health expenditures,” Dr. Swaminathan while delivering the Administrative Staff College of India’s (ASCI) Foundation Day Lecture here on Wednesday. “There is hospitalisation following an accident, for cancer, heart disease or even tuberculosis that can result in significant spending of household income.” The college is celebrating 60 years of its establishment.

Dr. Swaminathan said India spends only one percent of its GDP on health while most other countries in the region spend more. “Thailand and other countries spend at least seven to eight percent of the GDP on health,” she said.

Dr. Swaminathan denied that budgets for healthcare research were cut this year.

The ICMR DG also pointed out shortage of doctors, mainly in rural India, and observed that in countries like China, integration of traditional and modern medicine helps bolster the medical workforce.

“In India allopathic system is standalone. We are thinking of having bridge courses for practitioners of other systems to practise modern medicine in a strict way,” she said while also mentioning plans to educate healthcare workers to address the shortage of doctors.

Citing lack of adequate data on vital parameters and diseases, Dr. Swaminathan pointed out that there is little sharing of data between public and private institutions, including in reporting of disease that have to be notified.

Highlighting changes in cause of deaths and disabilities since 1990s when infectious diseases were prime concerns, Dr. Swaminathan said non-communicable diseases including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic lung disorders are seeing a rise in numbers, attributable to changes in lifestyle.

Chairman of ASCI’s board of governors and former union Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah pointed out that the need for widespread diagnostic services in public healthcare. ASCI Director General, in-charge, Paramita Dasgupta and other senior staff attended the lecture.