Congress manifesto promises right to health

The Congress Wednesday promised to scale up spending on healthcare and bring in a bill ensuring right to health if brought back to power after the general election.

It its 48-page election manifesto released here, the party promised to increase health expenditure to three percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide universal and quality healthcare for all countrymen.

"We pledge to enact a Right to Health bill to ensure that all people obtain easily accessible, quality health services, based on a combination of public provisions and special insurance," it said.

The manifesto said that a new National Health Mission will focus on both rural and urban healthcare.

"We will provide state of the art mobile healthcare vans in every district equipped with X-ray and other equipments," it said.

The party said it will try to provide a functional toilet in every school and household.

"Almost 60 percent of open defecation in the world takes place in India. Poor sanitation is a serious health hazard."

It also promised to strengthen primary healthcare infrastructure right up to the point of community health centres, create 60 lakh new jobs in the health sector by 2020 and expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, which is a national health insurance scheme for poor people.

"HIV infections in India have decreased by 57 percent. We will reduce this further and provide comprehensive care and support to all those living with HIV/AIDS," the manifesto said.