THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of public health experts who attended a panel discussion held in connection with ‘Keraleeyam’ demanded the government work on a second version of the Kerala model of healthcare to be built on the previous model. They specifically asked the government to focus on preventive aspects and not just the treatment part, in the wake of rising non-communicable diseases.
“The high treatment cost is a cause of concern. A catastrophic illness can push many families towards poverty. The governments have not increased their proportion of health spending due to the lack of political will,” said Sreechitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (Emeritus professor) Dr V Ramankutty. “The private hospital is the elephant in the room. The government should take a proactive role in preventive care and health promotion,” he said.
President of Public Health Foundation of India Dr K Srinath Reddy spoke on the need to refrain private hospitals from profiteering and insist them to offer affordable healthcare. “The state can use public insurance schemes as leverage to control private hospitals. Also, Kerala can adopt the Tamil Nadu model of public drug procurement and enable the private sector to benefit from it to collectively pass on the benefits to the public.”
Oncologist at Thomas Jefferson University Dr M V Pillai spoke of the next wave of the Kerala model that has to focus on preventive care. “With an ageing population and increasing lifestyle diseases, we should have prevention strategies,” he said. Former health minister P K Sreemathy also emphasised the need for prevention strategies and affordable treatment. “We need to fight diabetes, a disease that has affected 50% of the population. There is a need to focus on disease prevention to stop people from queuing up at dialysis centres,” she said.
Founder and chairman of Pallium India Dr M R Rajagopal said there is a need for improving the palliative care facilities and their accessibility in the state.
People’s Health Movement global coordinator Dr T Sundararaman emphasised that the state should improve its data management.
Programme director of Healthier Societies Strategy at the George Institute for Global Health India Dr Devaki Nambiar, in her study, found the need to improve the facilities and accessibility at the grassroots level.
Kerala State Planning Board Member Dr P K Jameela blamed the Centre for providing its share for various health projects in the state. Health Minister Veena George spoke about the achievements of the state in healthcare, including the fact that the state has won the national award three times for providing maximum medical treatment in the country free of cost.
She also elaborated on various schemes that touched different sections of society and the measures taken to tackle future challenges, including protecting the health of the elderly and preventing health problems due to climate change, and animal-borne diseases.