Fin Comm sets up expert group to improve healthcare quality

The 15th Finance Commission has constituted an expert group in the health sector to examine best international practices for optimising healthcare benefits within the country.

The six member committee will have AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria as its convenor.

The other members of the committee include Dr Naresh Trehan of Medanta City Hospital, Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru; and Dr Bhabatosh Biswas, Prof and HOD of Cordio Thoracic Surgery, R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The role of the expert group will be to evaluate the existing regulatory framework in the health sector and examine its strength and weaknesses for enabling a balanced yet faster expansion of the sector keeping in view India's demographic profile, it added.

It will also suggest ways and means to optimize the use of existing financial resources and to incentivise the state governments' effort on fulfilment of well-defined health parameters in the country.

The group will "holistically examine best international practices for the health sector and seek to benchmark our frameworks to these practices for optimizing benefits keeping in mind our local issues," the statement said.