Growing Healthcare Expenditure: 63 Million Public Suffer Poverty

The Health Ministry has revealed that healthcare costs in India have left about 63 million people poverty struck. This is due to shattering expenditures occurring in healthcare. All hospitals including those functioning in the public sector are leading to expensive healthcare. The recently placed draft of National Health Policy 2015 is seeking comments and suggestions from the public with the above point in focus. Growing healthcare costs is exhausting family incomes and neutralising income gains. Though government schemes are available to reduce poverty, increased healthcare costs are nullifying these schemes. Thus, causing a rise to poverty in India.

“Over 63 million persons are faced with poverty every year due to healthcare costs alone. It is because there is no financial protection for the vast majority of healthcare needs,” says the draft put out by the Health Ministry on its website for inviting public suggestions.

"This led to an increasing number of households facing catastrophic expenditures (18 percent of all households in 2011-12 as compared to 15 percent in 2004-05)," it said.

The country is in need of a new Health Policy that can accommodate these changes. The reasons stated for framing a new policy are rising non-communicable diseases and swiftly growing healthcare industry. The new charter aims to bring in affordable healthcare that can be universally accessed.

Source-Medindia