RAIPUR: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the party is contemplating to incorporate ‘Right to Health Care Act’ as part of the national manifesto for Lok Sabha polls.
While interacting with the doctors and health professionals at the National Convention on ‘Health for All’ in the Chhattisgarh capital, the Congress chief said his party is looking forward to include three key things in its manifesto on the health issue.
“We look towards including the Right to Health Care Act in our national manifesto that will guarantee minimum health care facilities to all Indians. Secondly, we aim to increase expenditure on health to around 3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), and further enhance and strengthen the number of doctors and the professionals to be trained in the country”, he stated. India is presently spending slightly over 1 % of GDP on health.
Rahul asserted that healthcare should be seen as the foundation which needs to be build firmly for the nation.
“The Congress government in 2019 will dramatically going to increase the money that we will put in the health care and education system. We are not going to put the money in the ways that allow only limited number of people to make massive amount of money, and that is how I view Ayushman Bharat health scheme (launched by BJP). I am convinced that people need public (government) expenditure though there can also be role for private players and insurance too in the health sector”, he opined and further stated that biggest cause of falling back to poverty is (lack of proper) healthcare.
He stated that the existing structure of hospitals and medical professionals doesn’t support the insurance mechanism under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
“For instance in Bihar or UP, which hospitals the patients need to go for treatment remains the fundamental question. So there has to be a proper network to be built systematically”, Gandhi said while seeking the solutions and advices from the medical professionals on health front during the at the Convention in Raipur