Expectations From Budget 2019: Making Healthcare Affordable, Accessible And Simple
With the new government about to roll out the first set of policies after coming into power, there are several expectations from the upcoming budget. It is not just medical care but also other social factors that play an important role in determining a person’s health status. These factors are also responsible for the gaps in health among various strata of people.
The concept of “One Health” has been gradually gaining ground in the last few years. This concept includes plants, animals, the environment, and human beings. One Health recognizes that the health of the people is connected to that of the other elements of nature as well. In most nations world over, inter-sectoral coordination has been established by the concerned governments, to consult with each other, share their knowledge, and provide effective and efficient means to control the emergence of such diseases as per protocols set by the World Health Organization under their One Health programme. We look forward to a budget that will set the agenda for One Health in India as well.
It is important to bring administrative and budgetary control of all schemes under various segments that deal with the health of humans, animals, environment-climate change, agriculture production, and disease control, under one roof. This will enable people working independently in these sectors on the prevention and control of diseases that have the potential to shift their host from one sector to others to understand the dynamics better. Further, such diseases can then be better researched and controlled.
We hope the government will allocate a common budget or link the budget for these programmes to ensure more intersectoral cooperation and sharing of knowledge. Besides, overlapping of programmes in these ministries will also go away to a large extent and thus result in the lesser financial outflow.
Apart from this, all emergent care services should be provided free or reimbursed to the private sector by the government. It is mandatory for all private sector health service providers to attend to all medical emergencies at their centers and provide free health care services that may be needed at that time to save a life. The same is true for all government hospitals in the country. All in all, we look forward to a budget that focuses on overall health and wellness thereby contributing to better productivity. Positive policies that will make healthcare more simple, affordable and accessible to common people are the need of the hour.
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