India’s healthcare system remains afflicted by high rates of infant mortality and deaths in childbirth, malaria, tuberculosis and a growing problem with chronic diseases, experts said.
In a series of seven papers published in The Lancet recently, they said India’s healthcare system was unable to cater to the needs of its population and out-of-pocket health bills were pushing 39 million residents into poverty each year.
Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria account for 30% of India’s disease burden.
Even though India met the World Health Organisation’s target of eliminating leprosy by 2005, new cases have been creeping up at a rate of 1.17 per 10,000 population a year and they warned that the disease may surge anew in the future.
India also carries the world’s largest burden of maternal, newborn and child deaths.
In 2008, 1.8 million children below age five, including one million neonates and 68,000 mothers died. India also has the greatest number of undernourished children, and about 52 million of them are stunted.
Among the proposals produced in the reports was a call for universal healthcare by 2020.
They warned that chronic diseases like heart and respiratory ailments, mental disorders, diabetes and cancer will account for nearly 75% of all deaths in India by 2030.
More needs to be done to ensure that citizens get at least basic minimum health care. Apart from a comprehensive health program, government need to ensure that delivery system is effective.