COIMBATORE: “The Indian healthcare system ranks good in aspects like accessibility and the number of doctors available but struggles with treatment quality,” said Dr J A Jayalal, president of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA).
Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of an IMA event in Coimbatore on Sunday, Dr Jayalal said “India should set aside at least 10% of its annual budget allocation to the health sector. Most developed countries allocate over 15% of their budget to the health sector. In contrast, India consistently allocates less than 2%,” he said. Without increasing budget allocation, improving the quality of health care will remain a challenge.”
Dr Jayalal also said that the penetration of government health insurance schemes is inadequate. “At least 90% of funds allocated for government insurance are returned to a system that already provides free treatment. While many private hospitals are empanelled, not all their procedures are covered under government insurance schemes. Moreover, private hospitals cannot provide treatments at prices fixed by these schemes, instead they opt for selective services. Obviously, government insurance schemes benefit the private sector.”
He added “Considering that 75% of health care is managed by private hospitals, what is the necessity of insurance in government hospitals? Instead, they can allocate funds directly to the government hospital to upgrade infrastructure, because the Insurance sector alone takes 30% of the money for the administrative expenses,” Jayalal said.
Also, he voiced concerns regarding the privacy and safety of patients’ data which is uploaded under the National Health Mission.