Healthcare should be free for all: Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday that governments should work to make healthcare free for all and not just a select few.

Addressing the CII Delhi State Annual Session 2021-22, the minister said the Delhi government is working on the "largest healthcare expansion plan of the world" with the construction of 15,000 new beds, which will become functional in the next one and a half years.

He said governments should take care of both the taxpayers and the ones who cannot afford quality healthcare.

"Private hospitals should be a choice but not the only option and hence, governments should work to make healthcare free for all and not a select few,"

Jain said India follows the healthcare system of the US. "Despite spending a large part of its GDP (18 per cent) on healthcare, the outcomes of the American healthcare system are not good," the minister said.

"We should adopt best practices of the healthcare system of some European countries and even third-world countries like Cuba, and come up with our own unique healthcare model which is affordable and accessible," he said.