Universal Health Coverage and the National Health Policy 2017: Some Observations
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120906588 |
| Author | Rumki Basu |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Note |
Universal Health
Coverage and the
National Health Policy
2017: Some
Observations
Rumki Basu1
Introduction
Public health outcomes in India have been a cause of continual despair with occa-
sional triumphs and seminal breakthroughs. Average Indians are better nourished,
live longer and have more access to public healthcare and low-cost medicines
today than in 1947 when we started our journey as an independent state. However,
our public health expenditure today, (1.4 per cent of GDP) remains one of the
lowest globally, even if we compare it with our peers and neighbours in the deve-
loping world.
Whether it is life expectancy, maternal or infant mortality, India ranks below
China, Brazil, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal (Dreze, 2017). India’s
per capita public spending on health is a meagre `2,494 per annum (2019) lower
than Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar’s in the same year (National
Health Policy [NHP], 2019).
Besides achieving specific health goals, India’s low public expenditure on
health directly impacts its efforts of putting into place a functioning system of
Universal Health Care (UHC). The globally accepted principle of UHC is that
quality healthcare should be guaranteed to all citizens irrespective of their ability
to pay. Some developing countries (including China, Brazil, Mexico and Thailand)
have made great strides towards UHC in recent years. In India, UHC remains a
‘work in progress’, although policy debates are now slowly but steadily gearing
towards accepting the Right to Health as the next fundamental right.
Note
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
66(1) 127–132, 2020
© 2020 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/0019556120906588
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1 Professor of Public Administration, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Rumki Basu, Professor of Public Administration, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
E-mail: mailtorumkibasu@gmail.com
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