H man Development in ndia 20.19
on pharmacies accounted for 29 percent of CHE social indicators. An overall assessment of social
by both health care providers (government and sector expenditures in terms of achievements
private). shows that wide gaps still exist in educational and
In a developing country like India, incurring health outcomes and there is need for substantial
higher levels of Out of Pocket Expenditure (OoPE) improvement and the need to remove inequalities
on health adversely impacts the poorer sections in the country.
and widens inequalities. Although, OoPE has The latest data18 regarding General
declined approximately seven percentage points Government (i.e., Centre plus States) expenditures
during the period 2004-05 to 2014-15, its share of India on the “social sector” for the year 2017-
is still at 62 per cent as per NHA 2014-15. 18 (BE, i.e., Budget Estimates) are as given below:
Diagnostics are an important part of the (i) Total expenditure—26.4 per cent of the
health care system that provide information GDP (26.7 per cent in previous year).
needed by service providers to make informed (ii) Expenditure on social services— 6.6 per
decisions about healthcare provision related to cent of GDP (6.5 per cent in the previous
treatment and management. Limited affordability year).
and access to quality medical services are among (iii) Expenditure on education—2.7 per cent
the major challenges contributing to delayed or of GDP (2.6 per cent in the previous
inappropriate responses to disease control and year).
patient management. The findings of Household (iv) Expenditure on health—1.4 per cent of
Health Expenditure survey in India indicate that GDP (1.5 per cent in the previous year).
about 10 per cent of OoPE on health was spent by
households on diagnostics (including medicines
PolIcY suGGestIons
and diagnostic test as part of package) during
2013-14. Social infrastructure has positive externalities. It
Meanwhile, the Government announced has a significant role in the economic development
(Union Budget 2018-19 ) to launch a flagship and welfare of a country. It is empirically proven
National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS). The and widely recognised that education and health
world’s largest government funded health care impact the growth of an economy. Investing
programme aims to cover over 10 crore poor in human capital by way of education, skill
and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore development, training and provision of health
beneficiaries) providing coverage upto Rs. 5 lakh care facilities enhances the productivity of the
per family per year for secondary and tertiary care workforce and welfare of the population. In this
hospitalisation. regard, contemporary documents suggest the
following actions19 for the governments in the
socIAl sector exPendIture country:
India’s expenditure on social sectors has not 18. Latest data from the Reserve Bank of India quoted by
the Economic Survey 2017-18, MoF, GoI, N. Delhi,
reflected a major increasing trend during the past Vol. 2, p. 168.
few years (2008-2016), an increase in expenditure 19. The suggestions are based on the documents—World
per-se may not always guarantee appropriate Happiness Report-2015 (SDSN, UNO); World
outcomes and achievements. The efficiency of Development Report- 2015 and 2016 (World Bank);
Economic Survey 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (GoI);
expenditure incurred so far can be assessed by India Development Report-2017; and the NITI Aayog
the performance of social sectors through various (GoI).