Improve health care for eco development, India urged

New Delhi, February 6:: India must improve the health care system to realise its economic potential and the country is well positioned to tackle challenges in the sector, says a report.

Further, public-private collaboration for better insurance coverage, widespread health education and better disease prevention could improve the health care system.

"The problems facing the system are large - but not intractable if business, government and civil society work together to solve them," said the report published by McKinsey Quarterly.

The report, titled A Healthier Future for India, pointed out that subsidising health care and insurance for the country's poor people would be necessary to improve the system.

India is expected to become the most populous country by 2035 while it already has the youngest people - home to about 20 per cent of the world's people under 24 years of age.

According to the report, India has the privilege of learning from and avoiding the costly errors of the advanced economies apart from having the opportunity to create new models for health care.

Moreover, increased availability of quality care, access to affordable health care services and creating awareness of the benefits of preventive measures are expected to help in the betterment of the system.

The report also pointed out that lack of qualified medical personnel is a serious problem.

"The system needs stewardship at all levels: strong policies and institutions that foster public-private partnerships, encourage the private sector to invest in rural areas, and strengthen the resource pool so that flagship programmes (such as the National Rural Health Mission) can succeed," it added.

Public-private collaboration will be required to open up new opportunities for training and to ensure that programmes like the National Rural Health Mission succeed, it added.

"... three essential priorities - increasing the availability of care, access to affordable care and awareness of healthy behaviour and of the health care resources available to Indians - can be addressed successfully only if all sectors of society work together," the report noted.