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Finally, a Health Policy for All of India

The government’s health policy draft takes a holistic view of the health system and achieving better outcomes across elements of access, cost and quality—all closely inter-related.

By Karan Singh and Parijat Ghosh

First published on março 25, 2017
min read


This article originally appeared on Livemint. On the heels of its landslide electoral victory, the government has taken the bold step of changing the narrative of development. In fact, it has shown that it is prioritizing critical social and development issues by releasing the much-awaited health policy draft. The fact is it is doing the right thing: it is not focusing on near-term electoral gains and is positioning health as a national priority by backing it with greater spending. The proposed blueprint is targeted, sensible and comprehensive. Significantly, the policy takes a holistic view of the health system and achieving better outcomes across elements of access, cost and quality—all closely inter-related. The policy looks to increase access to care by expanding coverage to the underprivileged and under-served and focuses on primary healthcare packages with geriatric, palliative and rehabilitative services. It also looks at increasing hospital beds to 2 per 1,000 people from an appalling 1.3 in 2012. Importantly, there is a commitment to increasing the public spending on healthcare to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to help finance these initiatives. The health policy has also sensibly focused on being cost-effective by focusing on preventive and promotive care and trying to fundamentally change the paradigm from sickness to wellness. This is the need of the hour as its cost effectively improves outcomes. In fact, early intervention reduces costs by 10-20x vis-a-vis late treatment in the case of diabetes and leads to 85% reduced costs and a 2x increase in survival rates for cardiovascular diseases. Useful lessons can also be learnt from countries such as Singapore which have delivered world-class outcomes by spending among the lowest levels on healthcare (around 4.5-5% of GDP). Other health systems show that a focus on primary care reduces the mortality and morbidity of cancer and cardiovascular diseases by a good 20-50%. Read the full article at Livemint. Karan Singh is the managing director of Bain & Company India and a former co-lead of the firm’s Asia-Pacific healthcare practice. Parijat Ghosh is a partner with Bain & Company in New Delhi and leads the India healthcare practice.

This article originally appeared on Livemint.

On the heels of its landslide electoral victory, the government has taken the bold step of changing the narrative of development. In fact, it has shown that it is prioritizing critical social and development issues by releasing the much-awaited health policy draft. The fact is it is doing the right thing: it is not focusing on near-term electoral gains and is positioning health as a national priority by backing it with greater spending.

The proposed blueprint is targeted, sensible and comprehensive. Significantly, the policy takes a holistic view of the health system and achieving better outcomes across elements of access, cost and quality—all closely inter-related. The policy looks to increase access to care by expanding coverage to the underprivileged and under-served and focuses on primary healthcare packages with geriatric, palliative and rehabilitative services. It also looks at increasing hospital beds to 2 per 1,000 people from an appalling 1.3 in 2012. Importantly, there is a commitment to increasing the public spending on healthcare to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to help finance these initiatives.

The health policy has also sensibly focused on being cost-effective by focusing on preventive and promotive care and trying to fundamentally change the paradigm from sickness to wellness. This is the need of the hour as its cost effectively improves outcomes. In fact, early intervention reduces costs by 10-20x vis-a-vis late treatment in the case of diabetes and leads to 85% reduced costs and a 2x increase in survival rates for cardiovascular diseases. Useful lessons can also be learnt from countries such as Singapore which have delivered world-class outcomes by spending among the lowest levels on healthcare (around 4.5-5% of GDP). Other health systems show that a focus on primary care reduces the mortality and morbidity of cancer and cardiovascular diseases by a good 20-50%.

Read the full article at Livemint.

Karan Singh is the managing director of Bain & Company India and a former co-lead of the firm’s Asia-Pacific healthcare practice. Parijat Ghosh is a partner with Bain & Company in New Delhi and leads the India healthcare practice.