Health Reforms in India (Research Paper Sample)

Health Reforms in India
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Health Reforms in India
Introduction
Reforms describe positive changes that are effected in a system or practice, typically with regard to political, social or economic aspects, with a view to realizing better outcomes from the system, process or institution. Reforms in different sectors within a region or state are geared towards improving efficiency in the process. Successful implementation of reforms results in improvement in the process outcomes. For example, when a country implements reforms within its justice system, improvements could be witnessed through an easier processing and completion of cases and better treatment of suspects and convicts. One of the areas which have seen reforms in various countries of the world is healthcare. Perhaps as a result of increasing appreciation of the value of a healthy population in socio-economic and political development, coupled with an ever increasing threat to human health, authorities in different countries, including the US and India are implementing a wide range of health reforms. In India, in particular, the government is undertaking reforms with a view to improving the access to quality healthcare for the citizens. This paper discusses health reforms in India, with a focus on the specific aspects of the reform, and the extent to which it has improved healthcare delivery in the Asian country. The paper also provides a few recommendations on how to ensure that the reforms are effective.
Overview
There is little doubt that good health is central to human development. Since human development entails empowerment of the people so that they are free from such challenges as poverty, starvation and lack of free will, access to quality healthcare is a key component in empowering the people and enhancing a healthy life (Government of India, 2011). However, economic and socio-political factors interplay to hinder provisions of quality healthcare to people. For example, low income, poor government policies, corruption, illiteracy and poverty result in a situation where only a few wealthy individuals have access to quality healthcare, while the majority of the populace lives in bad health (Rao and Choudhury, 2012). This situation, which is not uncommon in a majority of the developing countries, hinders socio-economic development. As such, it becomes necessary for governments and non-governmental agencies to develop strategies with a view to implementing reforms in the health sector. This is one of the ways of empowering humanity since, as already implied, good health is central to human development. This has been happening in India.
Health Reforms in India
In India, the healthcare system is characterized by low levels of public spending in healthcare. According to Rao and Choudhury (2012), "Between 1996-97 and 2005-06, total government spending on health was stagnant at about 1 percent of GDP, and the public expenditure elasticity with respect to GDP was at 0.94, lower than the average for low-income countries”. The result of this low level of public spending on healthcare is poor quality of healthcare services, which in turn has led to a poor health status of the Asian nation’s population. It is worth noting that the poor quality of public healthcare services has forced the wealthy class to seek medical attention in private health facilities. This implies that the poor are the most disadvantaged since they lack the economic power to make use of the usually expensive private healthcare.
In light of the foregoing, health reforms in India have been focused on increasing the amount of public funds allocated to public healthcare, improvement of the nation’s preventative healthcare and, perhaps more importantly, increasing access to quality healthcare to the poor population in the country (Government of India, 2011). To this end, several healthcare reform initiatives have been implemented by both the central and state governments.
To start with, the central government in 2005 launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a program which was designed to ensure that the poor people residing in rural parts of the Asian country had access to quality healthcare (Rao and Choudhury, 2012). The comprehensive health reforms program, which covers all parts of India, was developed in acknowledgement of low public spending on public healthcare, which is worsened by the fact that its distribution is skewed. The program which included a voluntary female community health program named Accredited Social Health Activist Program, was designed to ensure that institutionalized deliveries, immunization rates, nutrition, and reproductive health care was significantly improved (Government of India, 2011; Rao and Choudhury, 2012). NRHM also focused on improving healthcare infrastructure, including building more healthcare facilities, increasing the healthcare human resources, and ensuring that drugs were available to the people who needed them. In the program, states are classified into two categories: high-focus and non-focus states, which describe the states with poor health status and those relatively more developed health conditions, respectively. The focus states receive more funds that the non-focus one from the central government. In the program, the federal government would increase public funds allocation to healthcare by 30% in the first two years, and 40% thereafter (Rao and Choudhury, 2012). What is more, the respective states are supposed to contribute at least 15% of the central government’s allocation, or increase their health budgets by a minimum of 10% (Rao and Choudhury, 2012). While the NRHM has been faced with a wide range of challenges such as inefficiency and failure to fully involve all the states, the initiative has resulted in far reaching positive outcomes in the country’s healthcare system. For example, more healthcare facilities have been built to improve healthcare services to the poor in the rural areas.
Secondly, India’s Union Labor Ministry introduced the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in 2007, a national health insurance scheme which covered specific healthcare expenses. The Government of India introduced this healthcare scheme to offer financial cover against high OOP (out-of-pocket) expenses by the citizens who live below the poverty line (Government of India, 2011; Shahrawat and Rao, 2011). Under the scheme, every Indian family living below the poverty line is eligible for healthcare insurance, which covers daycare health procedures and hospitalization expenses as high as Rs 30,000 per year. The scheme covers five family members per household, and includes a transportation allowance. Under the RSBY insurance scheme, the state governments are mandated to identify eligible families, a task the authorities delegate to competitively selected insurance companies. The insurance firms perform their identification process and, once eligible families are identified, the insurer issues them with a smart card, which allows them to benefit from the government insurance cover. Holders of the smart insurance card can access treatment in selected health centers without having to pay any money (Shahrawat and Rao, 2011). Th...