UN wants India’s pvt health sector regulated

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New Delhi, Dec 4 : Even as a debate rages over mandatory rural stint for medical students proposed by health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, a report prepared by the UN special rapporteur for the government has suggested regulation of private health sector in India.

“Private practitioners have a human rights responsibility to provide predictable and sustainable assistance to public facilities in rural and undeserved areas,” said UN special rapporteur on health rights, Paul Hunt, at a press conference here on Monday.

Hunt visited two states, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, to prepare a report with regard to maternal mortality and health. “The rate of maternal mortality in India is shocking,” said Hunt. As per his report, 20% of the world’s maternal deaths (500,000 women die globally during childbirth or pregnancy) occur in India, where a maternal death occurs every 5 minutes. “In India, more than 300 maternal deaths occur for every 1,000 live births” compared with Sri Lanka with only 56 deaths and China with 45 deaths.

He said while the Indian government had doubled the allocation for health—from .9% to 2-3% of GDP, due to bottlenecks there were instances of unutilisation of funds.

Lauding the UPA government’s flagship National Rural Health Mission, Hunt suggested the scheme could benefit if all states introduced a system of maternal death audits, as was being done in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan on a pilot basis. Also, the health workforce in India was inadequate.