Earmark 4% of GDP for health: President Pranab Mukherjee

KANPUR: President Pranab Mukherjee today suggested raising public expenditure on health from 1.2 per cent to four per cent of GDP as done by some countries including the US, the UK and Norway.

"Public expenditure on health in India is just 1.2 per cent of the GDP and this needs to be enhanced. This is much lower than the 4 per cent plus level in countries like US, UK, Australia, Norway and Brazil," he said.

Mukherjee was speaking at the convocation function of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College here.

"Public sector spending is constrained by competing needs. We must, therefore, encourage increased participation of private healthcare providers. We must develop innovative models to engage them in imparting quality healthcare services," he said.

On achievements made under the National Rural Health Mission, he said, "I am happy to note the positive results of this Mission. It has created a huge infrastructure of 1.8 lakh health centres in the country. This Mission has also added over 1.4 lakh healthcare personnel."

"Availability of better infrastructure, trained manpower, effective drugs and modern equipment has led to significant improvement in service delivery," he said.

Mukherjee said NRHM, launched in 2005, was a landmark initiative aimed at restructuring health service in the country.

A new National Health Mission, combining the rural mission and a new urban mission, is being launched with an outlay of over Rs 21,000 crore for 2013-14, he said.