Needed, a transfusion for public health care

Context: Although private healthcare was always marred with exorbitant costs, its effect during the pandemic has attracted the focus towards the importance of a robust public healthcare system. 

Reasons for the rise of private healthcare:

• lack of adequate public health care: 

• Lack of specialized care: Focussed on primary healthcare at the peripheral level, preventive care, immunization dealing with common infections but lacked hospital beds and specialised facilities.
• Burgeoning middle class: Private sector capitalized on the rising demand for quality health care due to an increase in wealth.

• Lack of adequate investment: Indian government spends only 1.3% of GDP on public health care.

Limitation of Private Medicine:

• Lacking uniformity: 

• The lower spectrum of private healthcare is unpredictable due to the presence of unqualified medical practitioners.
• This spectrum serves 70% of the people (most vulnerable bottom) whose wealth is just 25% of the combined wealth of the top 1% wealthy population. 

• Follows law of diminishing returns: as the treatment gets more sophisticated, further increments, although small, cost enormously more.

• More private hospitals do not necessarily lead to better health outcomes:

• The US spends 15% of its GDP on health care in the form of large insurance based private medicine but has poorer healthcare indices than Europe.

Way forward:

• Higher government spending : The National Health Service of the UK acts as an example of a state of the art healthcare with low per capita expense than the US.

• Appropriate spending: Based on evidence and outcomes; training of doctors and nurses; election of doctors according to results.

• Regulating:Costing and auditing of care and procedures are necessary to ensure appropriate care and the right cost. Capping the cost may lessen the burden.

• Social responsibility: to provide care in times of need.

• Be aware of the actual cost: forcing a cap to a medical procedure might lead to losses and closure of hospitals which would hardly benefit anyone.