India govt health expenditure share in GDP goes up

INDIA'S National Health Authority (NHA) estimates for 2017-18 showed  that the share of the government’s health expenditure in the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country has gone up. The country’s ministry of health and family welfare said on Monday (29), the inaugural day of the winter session of the parliament, that the share of the government health expenditure in the total GDP of the country has increased from 1.15 per cent in 2013-14 to 1.35 per cent in 2017-18, Asian News International reported.

According to an official release, “The 2017-2018 NHA estimates not only show government expenditure on health exhibiting an increasing trend but also growing trust in the public health care system.

“With the present estimate of NHA 2017-18, India has had a continuous Time Series on NHA estimates for both government and private sources for five years since 2013-2014.

“These estimates are not only comparable internationally, but also enable the policymakers to monitor progress towards universal health coverage as envisaged in the National Health Policy, 2017.”

According to the findings, the government’s health expenditure as a share of total government expenditure has gone up from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2018-18.

In terms of per capita expenditure, the government’s health expenditure has grown from Rupees 1,042 to Rs 1,753 between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

The share of primary healthcare in current government health expenditure has increased from 51.1 per cent in 2013-14 to 54.7 per cent in 2017-18, ANI added.