Aiming to earn “political goodwill” ahead of the next general elections and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s keen desire to improve the country’s ailing public healthcare system, the UPA II is planning to make the upcoming 12th Plan a “health plan”.
Highly-placed sources in the government said that the Centre plans to double the allocation to the health sector in the 12th Plan (2012-17) which commences in the next fiscal. It means that the present allocation of `24,000 crores per year to the health sector by the Centre will increase to about `50,000 crore annually.
This kind of increase in spending on the public healthcare system with the aim of providing universal heath coverage will mean an expenditure of roughly `2.5 lakh crores over the 12th Plan, sources added. The government sees the improvement of the health sector as a major challenge, not only to make available healthcare facilities to all, but also at a reasonable cost. As for funding, this huge increase in government spending, there are indications that the additional money will have to come from some form of taxation.
Under the envisaged universalisation of healthcare, the government will also be working to ensure the availability of essential medicines free or at cheaper rates. To be able to do so, the government is planning to set up a Central Procurement Authority under the health ministry, said sources. There is also a move to increase the number of medicines which come under the National List of Essential Medicines which is currently 348, they added.
In aiming to universalise health coverage, the government also plans to deal with the problem of the huge shortage of doctors, nurses and paramedics in the country, said sources.