This refers to the edit “Affordable medicine” (September 30). Theoretically speaking, our country can very well afford good-quality drugs for everyone in the primary and secondary health care segments. However, this remains a distant dream. There is evidence that even the economically-disadvantaged countries are doing better than India as far as out-of-pocket expenditure is concerned. Although the National Rural Health Mission is a good step forward, simply infusing money into the health sector or focusing on health-insurance and sloganeering will not help.
Politicians at the grassroots want health sector funds to be spent on infrastructure development. And the money sanctioned for the procurement of essential drugs is not well-spent.
Since the government is interested in reducing the burden of out-of-pocket expenditure, can we hope that policy-makers and administrators would ensure the availability of affordable and quality drugs, at least at the primary and secondary health care levels during the Twelfth Plan period?
Ajay K Tripathy, Vellore
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