India spends less than Sri Lanka and Bhutan on public-health
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but its expenditure on healthcare as a percentage of GDP remains quite shameful. According to the National Health Profile (NHP) 2018, India spends a meagre 1.02% of its GDP on healthcare, less than low-income neighbors like Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and considerably less than most countries with significant universal health coverage (UHC) services.
India falls behind neighbors, other countries with UHC
Compared to our neighbors Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, which spends 2.5%, 1.6% and 1.1% of their GDPs on healthcare, India's numbers are quite weak. Additionally, compared to other countries with UHC services, India falls far below the lowest rank holder - Singapore. Among these, Sweden ranks the highest with 9.2% of GDP spent on health care, and Singapore ranks lowest with 2.2% spent.
India ranks second last in the South Asian region
In the World Health Organization's (WHO) designated South Asia region, India ranks second last in terms of public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP, above only Bangladesh, which spends 0.4%. Maldives spends the most, with 9.4% of its GDP going into public health expenditure.
Only 34% of Indians have health insurance
The NHP 2018 also revealed that 43 crore people, or around 34% of India's population were covered under some or the other health insurance scheme in 2016-17. While the NHP 2018 didn't give figures for out of pocket expenditure, a WHO health financing report from 2017 showed that 67.8% of all health expenditure in India came from people's pockets. The world average is 18.2%.
India's per capita expenditure pales in comparison to others
India's current per capita public health expenditure stands at Rs. 1,112 (around $16 going by current exchange rates). For perspective, Switzerland, US, and the UK spend $6,944, $4,802, and $3,500 per capita on health, respectively.
So, what's the government doing about it?
The government at least appears to be cognizant of these shortfalls. The National Health Policy 2017 had proposed raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025. Additionally, the Centre plans to launch the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) - Ayushman Bharat - to cover over 10 crore poor families with an annual health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family in August.
