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“Economic development cannot be independent of a nation’s health”
healthy soch
New Delhi, July 05, 2019:
The union budget 2019 was presented by the finance minister on 5th July 2019. It has brought a wave of relief for the start-up and SME sectors. However, there was nothing in it for the health sector, and it did not feature anywhere in the agenda.
Health is wealth is a popular saying and we must understand its significance. Without a strong healthcare focus, the economy of the country and standard of living of people can’t be elevated in the true sense.
Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, said, “There were several expectations from the union budget 2019 and the new government alike. It is disheartening to see that healthcare was not addressed at all including the increase in expenditure for the same. Issues such as the increasing prevalence of diseases, preventive healthcare, and lack of access to affordable and quality care were completely missed. Although Ayushman Bharat was listed in the 10-point agenda, there is no clarity on how it would be extended to a larger population.
Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, said, “It is encouraging to see the emphasis on Swachh Bharat, water, hygiene, and sanitation. These will go a long way in reducing preventable water and food-borne diseases in the country. I also welcome the government’s move to set up an electronic fundraising programme for social enterprises and voluntary organizations. This is a positive step towards helping organizations like HCFI build capital and extend lifesaving programmes to a larger section of the population.”
The Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) would request and reemphasize on considering the following.
- Bring administrative and budgetary control of all such schemes of all segments that deal with health of humans, animals, environment-climate change, agriculture production, and disease control, under one roof namely “One Health Program”. This will enable the scientists working in these sectors independently on prevention and control of diseases that have the potential to shift their host from one sector to another, and these can be better researched and controlled.
- Allocate common budget or link these budgets for these programmes so that more intersectoral cooperation and sharing of knowledge takes place. Besides, overlapping of programmes in these ministries will also go away to a large extent and thus would also result in more saving of financial outflow.
- Provide emergent care services free of cost or reimbursed to the private sector by the government.
healthysoch
HealthySoch
