Healthcare is inherently holistic unlike medical care. To make the National Health Policy effective and purposeful, to help build a healthy society with less illness and less hospitals, I suggest the following action points that call for immediate enforcement.We should develop our own system for protecting families from financial ruin of medical treatment and care. We must eliminate the out-of-pocket model practised in India, which is a big burden on the citizens of this country, unlike the highly efficient healthcare models practised in industrialised nations.
We must adopt a ‘Health in all policies’ approach. The strict enforcement of our national law on tobacco control, the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), across the state is a good example of multi-sectoral approach towards law enforcement. We should perform a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to evaluate the effect of policies, plans and projects on health in diverse economic sectors. For instance, traffic injuries, air and noise pollution can be reduced through “healthy transport policies”.
We must strengthen the primary healthcare centres (PHCs) by addressing the shortage of qualified and competent professionals in the healthcare delivery system, especially in rural India. We should incept an exclusive institute responsible for healthcare quality to ensure adherence to safe medical practices and seamless coordination across government agencies.We should aim at aggressively promoting the use of generic drugs and direct generic drug manufacturers to strictly comply with good manufacturing practice guidelines.
The authorities should look at integrating various systems of medicine with AYUSH and complementary medicine to develop holistic and integrated schools of medicine. We must promote innovations with a “create in India” mission such as BIRAC model which looks beyond imports from China. We should create a healthcare system covering all individuals across the length and breadth of the country, from cradle to grave. This will make preventive care attractive to heathcare providers from an investment perspective.
Dr Vishal Rao
Member of independent think tank Covid-19 Consultative Group, and Head & Neck Oncologist at HCG hospitals