The government expenditure saw an uptick in healthcare spending both as a share of GDP and in real terms during the first eight months of the current fiscal through March 31, according the Economic Survey released on Friday. Real expenditure on health between April and November grew 9%, the survey said.

The survey called in for more spending on maternal and child healthcare if India needs to grow at a faster pace.
“Tomorrow’s worker is today’s child or foetus. Born and raised by today’s mothers. It would consequently seem important to focus on “mother and child,” involving maternal health and early life interventions,” it said.

Citing research on investments in public healthcare by some countries, the Economic Survey said evidence “shows that countries with better maternal and infant health “at takeoff” grew faster over the subsequent 20 years” plotting the relationship between GDP growth and infant mortality in the year that the economy “took off.”

Among the 77 OECD countries, India has the fiscal capacity to spend on healthcare and others, “contrary to popular perception that India has low fiscal capacity,” it said.

On healthcare, the country spends about 1.3% of its GDP, and this has been flat for the past two years; and 4.9% of a percentage of its total expenditure, while it is 19.5% as a percentage of spending in social services, the survey showed.

The average total medical expenditure for non-hospitalised treatment per ailing person in rural and urban areas is Rs 509 and Rs 639 respectively.

“These expenditures reflect the challenges that India faces in the provision of affordable and accessible health care to the population,” the survey said. India ranks 143 among 190 countries as per the World Bank’s Universal Health Coverage index on per capita expenditure on health, and 157  position according to per capita government spending on health, it said. The survey, in this context, called on the government to improve in the treatment of diarrhoea.

Booster dose
* Real expenditure on health between April and November grew 9%
* The survey called in for more spending on maternal and childcare health if India needs to grow at a faster pace
* Survey said evidence shows that countries with better maternal and infant health “at takeoff” grew faster over the subsequent 20 years