Be healthy to spend on healthcare

With budget around the corner, and Viksit India on the hive mind, health spend should be top priority for the state. It isn't. In 2024, GoI, in collaboration with states, assessed India's 2 lakh public healthcare facilities under the National Health Mission (NHM). Nearly 80% were found to fail to meet minimum essential standards for infra, manpower and equipment. In such a situation, one would expect the Indian state to pump more money into the health sector - and its citizens to demand it. However, despite repeated recommendations from National Health Policy 2017, Economic Surveys (2021, 2022-23), and the 15th Finance Commission to raise government health expenditure to at least 2.5% of GDP, the 2024-25 health budget remains stagnant at 1.9%. South Africa allocates 4.3%, Brazil 4%, and China over 3%.

According to Indian Public Health Standards, each primary healthcare centre should cater to 20k-30k people. Instead, the figure often exceeds 36,000 as of 2020-21. Community health centres, meant to provide specialised services, are in even worse condition. The system's bias towards curative healthcare - with preventive healthcare receiving just 14% of government funds - results in long-term inefficiencies and soaring healthcare costs.

Budget '25 must prioritise preventive healthcare, including awareness campaigns on issues like anaemia, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, along with health screenings and wellness programmes. With medical inflation at 14% - the highest in Asia - there are justified calls to raise Section 80D deduction of I-T Act and exempt health insurance premiums from 18% GST. Becoming a viksit nation is inextricably linked to the health of its citizens and their access to healthcare. Anything less is daydreaming.