Hyderabad: Terming health cess as a black hole, Indian Medical Association (IMA) national president Dr RV Asokan on Sunday said the govt should invest in health and allocate more budget to the sector to achieve universal healthcare.
He said about Rs 3,000-4,000 crore is collected every year through the health cess. “But nobody knows how this money is spent or where it goes.Why can’t this money be used to strengthen healthcare?” asked Dr Asokan, adding that the health budget should be gradually increased to 5% of GDP by 2030.
“Apart from the health cess, the govt can also tap into ESI funds to provide healthcare to vulnerable sections of society. About Rs 70,000 crore of the ESI fund is lying idle. These changes can help improve the health of our nation,” said Dr Asokan.
He pointed out that while the govt keeps talking about the availability of doctors per population, it ignores infrastructure. “We have more than enough doctors. What we lack is infrastructure. While the WHO says there should be a minimum of 3 beds per 1,000 people, we have only 1.5 beds. But nothing is being done to improve the infrastructure,” he said.
While concentrating more on health investment, the Bengaluru Declaration, which was signed in June this year by IMA and Patient Safety & Access Initiative India Foundation (PSAIIF), also talked about setting up a ‘patient information platform’ to empower patients to make informed choices and developing appropriate mechanisms to ensure zero tolerance for violence against doctors and clinical facilities, among other things.
