The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan, Ayuhsman Bharat

Problems with Indian Health Care

  • Unequal accessibility from rural to urban areas.
  • Inadequate infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
  • Preventive strategies are got less importance so far.
  • 3 tier health care systems are missing in any of the states except few like Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
  • Insufficient resources allocated to the health care.
  • Social inequality is evident in all the indicators of health care such as MMR, IMR, and Stunting etc.
  • Shortage of trained human resources (5.5-8 doctors for every 10000 people), which led to large number of quacks.
  • Higher expenses for higher medical services.
  • Over reliance on Private healthcare centres in Urban centres.
  • Unequal distribution of health care facilities across India.
  • Poor quality of existing health services.
  • Digitalisation of health care is in a snail pace in public health care system.
  • Lack of adequate data and monitoring.
  • Poorly implemented real-time health management information system.
  • Poor disease surveillance system in place.

Achieving Universal Health Coverage

  • Universal health coverage is getting prioritised as a part of political reform with the launch of two pillars of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):
  • Ayushman Bharat (AB), where 1.5 lakh health sub-centres are being converted into health and wellness centres.
  • The National Health Protection Mission (NHPM), which aims to provide health cover of Rs.5 lakh per family, per annum, reaching out to 500 million people
  • Align Health entitlement to Income lines: Health Premium subsidy in line with housing categories
  • This 2003 solution of the Vajpayee-era recommended, inter alia, that good governance lies in aligning the income lines for health and housing.
  • In other words, de-link entitlement to health care from the poverty line.
  • In that event, the income lines for housing could be simultaneously applicable for health entitlement. The PMJAY would help improve availability, accessibility, and affordability for the needy 40% of the population.
  • The government could then proceed, to scale the health premium subsidy in line with housing categories — economically weaker sections (entitled to 75-90%), lower income (entitled to 50%), and middle income groups (entitled to 20%)

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

  1. Raunak Kushwaha1 February 2022 at 05:34

    Your blog is very informative. Nowadays current affairs have become a very important section of the competitive exam. Most of the questions are asked from this section. Read Best current affairs for UPSC and IAS daily current affairs for the preparation for the exam.

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