Prof. V. Vidhya

Assistant Professor

Department of MBA

Sankara College of Science and Commerce

Healthcare has become a largest sector in India that has both revenue and employment. It comprises not only hospitals but also health insurance, telemedicine, medical tourism, medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies. The Indian health sector is growing in a high degree as it has strong coverage, quality service and expenditure increase by public and private healthcare providers.

Indian Healthcare system is divided into two components Public and Private. Public system is run by our Government which has limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in the form of Primary health centres at rural areas. The Private providers have majority of secondary, tertiary and quaternary care services in cities and metros.

India has well trained professionals both in medical and non-medical areas and India is also comparative in cost advantage compared to its neighbouring countries. The cost of healthcare in other countries is more when compared to cost of healthcare in India. As of Nov 2021 nearly 115 crore of Covid 19 Vaccine doses had been administered across the country.

The Healthcare market has increased in three-fold from RS.1.8 trillion to RS. 8.6 trillon in 2022. In the 2021 Budget the public expenditure for healthcare was 1.2% of GDP. The increase in burden of disease is boosting the demand of health insurance coverage. With the increase in demand for quality healthcare and cost of healthcare the penetration of health insurance shown to be increased automatically. In the Financial year 2021 the health insurance companies scored gross direct premium income of RS.58572 crore. The health segment has 29.5% share in the total GDP in the country. Indian medical tourism market was valued as US $ 2.89 billion in 2020 and is expected to increase by US $ 13.42 billion by 2026. According to Indian Tourism statistics report of 2020 697300 foreign tourists have come for medical treatment in India for the financial year 2019. India has been ranked as 10^th position in the MTI for 2020-21 out of 46 destinations by the Medical Tourism Association.

Our India lags in the expenditure for healthcare. As per the recent Economic survey of India 2020-21 it was said that the public spending on health will raise from 1% GDP to 2.5 – 3 % of GDP. The current Covid -19 pandemic highlighted the need for the Government to invest in Public Health.

The Private sector plays an important role in healthcare as the public healthcare systems does not cater all the need to all. Private healthcare players has an important role not only metros but also in tier I and tier II cities. So the private expenditures has greater share in Health expenditure of India which means the share of out of pocket expenditure is more. The high OOPE leads ultimately to poverty according to the Economic survey. The NHP 2017 has visualised that Health for all which is affordable to all.

Lastly, the Government should take initiatives to strengthen the public health services rather than to promote private players. This initiative can be helpful for the public to afford the treatment and decrease of the poverty in the country.

PUBLIC & PRIVATE HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURE IN INDIA

Prof. V. Vidhya

Assistant Professor

Department of MBA

Sankara College of Science and Commerce

Healthcare has become a largest sector in India that has both revenue and employment. It comprises not only hospitals but also health insurance, telemedicine, medical tourism, medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies. The Indian health sector is growing in a high degree as it has strong coverage, quality service and expenditure increase by public and private healthcare providers.

Indian Healthcare system is divided into two components Public and Private. Public system is run by our Government which has limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in the form of Primary health centres at rural areas. The Private providers have majority of secondary, tertiary and quaternary care services in cities and metros.

India has well trained professionals both in medical and non-medical areas and India is also comparative in cost advantage compared to its neighbouring countries. The cost of healthcare in other countries is more when compared to cost of healthcare in India. As of Nov 2021 nearly 115 crore of Covid 19 Vaccine doses had been administered across the country.

The Healthcare market has increased in three-fold from RS.1.8 trillion to RS. 8.6 trillon in 2022. In the 2021 Budget the public expenditure for healthcare was 1.2% of GDP. The increase in burden of disease is boosting the demand of health insurance coverage. With the increase in demand for quality healthcare and cost of healthcare the penetration of health insurance shown to be increased automatically. In the Financial year 2021 the health insurance companies scored gross direct premium income of RS.58572 crore. The health segment has 29.5% share in the total GDP in the country. Indian medical tourism market was valued as US $ 2.89 billion in 2020 and is expected to increase by US $ 13.42 billion by 2026. According to Indian Tourism statistics report of 2020 697300 foreign tourists have come for medical treatment in India for the financial year 2019. India has been ranked as 10^th position in the MTI for 2020-21 out of 46 destinations by the Medical Tourism Association.

Our India lags in the expenditure for healthcare. As per the recent Economic survey of India 2020-21 it was said that the public spending on health will raise from 1% GDP to 2.5 – 3 % of GDP. The current Covid -19 pandemic highlighted the need for the Government to invest in Public Health.

The Private sector plays an important role in healthcare as the public healthcare systems does not cater all the need to all. Private healthcare players has an important role not only metros but also in tier I and tier II cities. So the private expenditures has greater share in Health expenditure of India which means the share of out of pocket expenditure is more. The high OOPE leads ultimately to poverty according to the Economic survey. The NHP 2017 has visualised that Health for all which is affordable to all.

Lastly, the Government should take initiatives to strengthen the public health services rather than to promote private players. This initiative can be helpful for the public to afford the treatment and decrease of the poverty in the country.