Telangana stands 3rd after Kerala in Health Index ranking- NITI AAYOG

Hyderabad: Health Care Failure is pushing nearly 6.5 crore people each year into poverty. It is a shame that so many people are pushed into poverty because of the costs of health care. The Round Table discussion on Vision 2030 on how to ensure quality and affordable health for all in Telangana being organised by FTCCI (The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry is appreciable. It is a good move for an Industrial Association to come forward and draft a vision document for 2030 on the subject, said Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, an author of National Health Mission, a retired Bureaucrat and founder of the Loksatta Party.

58 per cent of Health Care expenditure is incurred on out-of-pocket costs. And 90 Indians work in the unorganised sector and not many have access to health insurance. It is generally perceived that private insurance is the solution to healthcare is a weak argument, it is nonsense, he said. The quality of family health care is a disaster in our country. The mighty nation the USA spends one-third of its GDP on Health care delivery. But, the USA is not the best in Health care. It is the worst in rich countries with high cost and low impact, Dr Jayapraksh Narayan added.

Speaking further he said Osmania Hospital gets 6000 patients a day, so also Gandhi 4000 and AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in Delhi attracts 12000 patients a day. There is so much load on the tertiary medical care of our country. The World's best tertiary medical care facilities attract no more than 700 people a day. They should not be overcrowded. Patients shouldn't throng specialist hospitals without availing of basic medical facilities. We must deploy our resources well, he said.

Another important aspect is the deployment of trained healthcare professionals. 3.2 million people are deployed in Health Care in India. Whereas the USA deploys 6.9 million. For better access to health care, we need to reach at least a 10 million mark. Similarly, we as a nation spend 1.01% of GSDP and Telangana less than 1%. This is lowest in significant economies, he said. Nearly 7000 Medical Doctors have graduated from Telangana and soon it will be 8000 per year. We have mastered high-end health care and the lowest cost, he said.

Hyderabad does about 200 bypasses and 200 new replacement surgeries every month. Our success rate is high. That is why we are performing well in Medical Tourism. Hyderabad and India are emerging as the world hub for overseas healthcare. Nearly one million overseas people are likely to spend 13.8 billion US $ this year on treatment in India and it is likely to go up to 100 billion in the near future, he said and gave few suggestions. The emphasis must be given to family health care. It should be patient-centric, he added.

He refused to agree that trained resources are a problem. Nearly a quarter million doctors are either unemployed or under-employed. The Government Medical Colleges have to enhance their credibility. They must improve their skill level. Today government colleges have lost credibility in public. They are not seen as experts. But that was not the case in the past, he concluded his address.

Dr GVS Murthy, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health(IIPH) said we must focus on three fundamental areas in the vision document. In these days of the APPS world, my talk will be an acronym APPS about ensuring quality and affordable health for all in Telangana. He gave six As -- Affordability, Accessibility, Acceptability, accountability, auditability, and Adaptability. The Ps in APPs is Preparedness of Healthcare Systems, Prevention, Partnerships, Patient Centred Care, Population-based, Primary Care, Participatory, and Point of Care Diagnostics.