Mukherjee favours affordable healthcare system

President Pranab Mukherjee today favoured a universally accessible, affordable and effective healthcare system to take care of the medical needs of the poor in the country.
Addressing the Golden Jubilee of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) here, he lamented that public financing in health sector in India is less than one per cent of the world's total health expenditure and due to lack of financial risk protection, many people plunge into poverty fighting ailments and bearing high cost of treatment.
He said that a strong health insurance mechanism is the key to ensure better healthcare of the people.

"A holistic healthcare system - universally accessible, affordable and effective - is the need of the hour. It calls for a strong healthcare infrastructure, trained and motivated personnel, and access to medicines and modern equipment," Mukherjee said.
He said there are seven hospital beds per 10,000 people in India compared to 23 in Brazil, 38 in China and 97 in Russia. There are seven physicians per 10,000 people in India, compared 19 in Brazil, 15 in China and 43 in Russia, he said.
He said that although schemes like National Rural Health Mission have improved service delivery in India, health services still have constraints of reach and quality.

"Primary healthcare is critical as it reduces the need for tertiary care. Public financing for healthcare in India is less than one per cent of the world total health expenditure. As Indians are a sixth of humanity, this is woefully meagre. Our expenditure levels have to rise significantly to ensure universal health coverage," Mukherjee said.
Commenting on the Union government's move to formulate a new health policy, he said, "Our immediate should be to eradicate communicable diseases and control the non- communicable ones."
Noting that some medical treatments are expensive, he said that the aim should be never to deny cure to any including the poor.