Government health establishments in the national capital lack infrastructure and facilities and the private ones are unaffordable.
IT IS A WARM AFTERNOON IN LATE MARCH and chamber number 483 on the Delhi High Court premises is brimming with visitors. Inside, Senior Advocate Ashok Agarwal, seated across the table from this correspondent, is weighing in on the recently announced National Health Policy (NHP). Far from being impressed by the seemingly well-drafted text, Agarwal emphasises the subtext of the policy and calls it “jugglery”.
Explaining why he is not impressed by the policy, Agarwal points out that the government has not made public health a “fundamental right backed by a national law” without which patients, especially the poor for whom access to health services is often uncertain, are relegated to the status of “beggars”. This is because government health establishments are often overcrowded and private ones are unaffordable.
Besides, the policy’s strong dependence on private and non-profit sectors to make up for “gaps” left by government institutions in delivering health care seems unrealistic given the fact that hospitals in the private sector are often unaffordable and their commitment to delivering health care to the poor has been patchy. Agarwal said: “If everyone in this country was a crorepati, then it [dependence on private hospitals and services] would have been fine. But 70 per cent of Indians will not be able to afford it.” In this context, the policy’s stated goal of ensuring “universal access to good-quality health care services without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence” seems less than convincing.
PRIVATE SECTOR IN DELHI
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