2019: When Healthcare Suffered A Political Scare

Uncertainties add stress to an already strained system

- PT Jyothi Datta

It was with some expectation that patient groups watched Election 2019. The Ayushman Bharat (AB) insurance programme, its flaws aside, had been rolled out. And statements on promoting less expensive generic medicines and on controlling the price of cardiac stents had been made in the past by no less than the Prime Minister.

Expectations were high that the incoming government would build on this momentum, especially since India sits at the top of many global health problems, ranging from tuberculosis to lifestyle-related communicable diseases like diabetes. Studies show that both communicable and non-communicable diseases vie for attention from the Government, for attention from the Union Budget, for attention from policymakers.

And now, adding a new layer of complexity to this already over-burdened healthcare system, is the political disruption witnessed in different parts of the country.

Just months ago, a young resident of Kashmir recounted how her mother’s high blood pressure could have had fatal repercussions, as telephone lines and the internet were down following the revocation of Article 370. The resident had to run to a doctor 10 minutes away and get back in the nick of time to administer the necessary medicine. Access to medicine and healthcare runs into a new hurdle when there is political turmoil and uncertainty, a complexity the Indian healthcare could do without.