Indias public health spend among lowest ……….Nirmala M Nagaraj
Bangalore: India should stop calling itself an emerging superpower when the state cannot provide citizens basic health and education. According to a WHO survey, India is at the bottom of the heap in terms of public health spending171 out of 175 countries. It is less than even some of the sub-Saharan African countries, a study conducted in 2007-08 has revealed.
For a country of over a billion, India spends 5.2% of its GDP on healthcarecompared to, say, 16% in the US and 13% in Sweden. Of this, only 0.9% is spent by the government while the private sector accounts for the remaining 4.3%. This is damning evidence given the fact that nothing is more indicative of a nations quality of life than its health delivery system.
Public health spending as a percentage of GDP is minuscule. Due to this, India is over-dependent on the private sector. Contrast us with China, which spends almost almost 6% of its GDP of health,said Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals.
While India ranks among the top 10 countries for communicable diseases, it is a world leader in chronic diseases.
SICK STATS
SICK STATS
World spends total of $4.1 trillion on health. 20 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, which make up less than 20% of the world population, account for 90% of the world spend on health at an average of 11% of GDP compared to 4.7% in Africa and South-East Asia