Health Crisis | Report Card Series | Ep7

The COVID 19 pandemic exposed the fragility of our health systems. For the poor, pandemic or otherwise, access to quality healthcare was and continues to be a pipe dream. The majority in the country are just one health shock away from slipping into utter destitution. Healthcare must be a right and cannot be left to the vagaries of the market. However, despite many promises and the horrors of the pandemic, healthcare continues to be woefully underfunded leading to high out of pocket expenditure. Primary health centres are short staffed, nurses are not compensated adequately and cost of medicines remain high. High waiting time and fear of high costs prompts many from poorer households to completely avoid going to hospitals. Environmental degradation with poor air quality and unchecked pollution adds to the health woes. Finally, what is really striking is the indignity meted out to those who lost their lives during the pandemic due to Covid. By multiple scientific estimates, the Narendra Modi led union government has grossly under-reported the lives lost due to Covid. Estimates suggest that, in reality, 10 times more lives have been lost in India due to Covid compared to what the government claims. The 3 parts of this video delve into these vital aspects. The health data used in this video is based on the report prepared by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) as part of their comprehensive ‘Balance sheet of the decade’ series. The CFA reports can be found here: https://www.fanindia.net/indian-economy/balance-sheet-of-a-decade/ Watch this video to learn more. Special thanks to Rajendran Narayanan and Vivek Gilani. Sources: • Health care expense 2.16% of the GDP at 0:53: Source Health report card - Centre for Financial Accountability https://www.fanindia.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Health.pdf • STATE OF HEALTH FINANCING IN INDIA: The myth of OOP reduction by Indranil https://www.cenfa.org/state-of-finance-in-india-report-2023/ (page 72 of the document) • Expenditure of other G20 countries -- WHO, Global Health expenditure database. https://apps.who.int/nha/database/country_profile/Index/en • Among 55 Low Middle-Income Countries, we are tenth from the bottom, in terms of public spending on health as a % of GDP - Source: STATE OF HEALTH FINANCING IN INDIA: The myth of OOP reduction by Indranil https://www.cenfa.org/state-of-finance-in-india-report-2023 • NFHS data shows that 50% of households in India do not generally seek health care from the public sector. The percentage of households that do not generally use government health facilities is highest in Bihar (80%) and Uttar Pradesh (75%): Source NFHS- 5 (page 449 of this link) https://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-5Reports/NFHS-5_India_Report.pdf • Reasons for low hospitalisation: Source: NFHS 5 https://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-5Reports/NFHS-5_India_Report.pdf (Page 478) • Challenges to get medical treatment for women in the 15-49 age group: Source: NFHS 5 https://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-5Reports/NFHS-5_India_Report.pdf (page 484) • Rural Health Statistics: Source https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Final%20RHS%202018-19_0.pdf • 25% doctors: Source Rural Health Statistics 2021-22 • 36% children under 5 being malnourished, 32% underweight and 67% Anaemia: Source: NFHS 5 (page 375) https://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-5Reports/NFHS-5_India_Report.pdf Estimation of COVID Deaths • “Estimates of pandemic excess mortality in India based on civil registration data” by Murad Banaji and Aashish Gupta https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000803 • Meta-analysis of nationwide SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rates in India by Lauren Zimmerman and Bhramar Mukherjee https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000897#sec004 • The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic - ByWilliam Msemburi, Ariel Karlinsky, Victoria Knutson, Serge Aleshin-Guendel, Somnath Chatterji & Jon Wakefield https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05522-2 • Pollution Sources: blog.mumbaivotes.com • National Air Plan: https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/1714/AU134.pdf?source=pqals https://www.bjp.org/manifesto2019 • Green Fund: https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/218/Au1085.pdf?source=pqars https://www.bjp.org/manifesto2019 • TB-free India: https://dashboards.nikshay.in/community_support/overview • Health security for ASHA/ANGANWADI Workers: https://business.outlookindia.com/insurance/interim-budget-2024-ayushman-bharat-now-covers-asha-anganwadi-workers-without-a-specified-budget-allocation#:~:text=Budget%202024%20on%20Ayushman%20Bharat,without%20any%20additional%20budget%20allocation