What the latest National Health Account figures say about India’s healthcare sector

Source: The post is based on the article “What the latest National Health Account figures say about India’s healthcare sector” published in Indian Express on 29th April 2023

What is the News?

National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India for 2019-20 has been released.

What are National Health Account (NHA) estimates?

The National Health Account (NHA) estimates for India 2019-20 is the seventh consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by NHSRC, designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry.

The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted standard of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

What are the key findings of the National Health Account (NHA) estimates?

Government spending on healthcare has been on the rise: The money spent by the government on healthcare as a percentage of GDP has increased from 1.13% in FY 2015 to 1.35% in FY 2020.

– Although the number is still far from the target of 2.5% investment in healthcare by 2025, the number is likely to shoot up in next year’s report, with the increased government spending during the pandemic getting reflected.

Money spent by people from their own pocket on healthcare has been going down: The share of Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) in total Health Expenditure (THE) declined from 62.6% to 47.1%. The continuous decline in the OOPE in the overall health spending show progress towards ensuring financial protection and Universal Health Coverage for citizens.

Major chunk of the government’s health spend was in the primary sector: Out of the total spending by the government on healthcare in FY 2020, 55.9% went to primary care, 29.6% went to secondary care, and 6.4% went to tertiary care.

There has been a consistent increase in social security expenditure by the government: It increased from 5.7% of the total spending on health in FY 2015 to 9.3% in FY 2020.

Increased spending on Insurance: There has been an increase in spending on privately purchased health insurance as well.Privately purchased health insurance made up for only 3.9% of the total health expenditure in FY 2015, which increased to 7.72% in FY 2020. 

– The government financed health insurance spending also went up from 3.8% of the total money spent on healthcare in FY 2015 to 6.37% in FY 2020.

Health spending by States: National Health Policy 2017 says that 8% of states’ budget should go towards healthcare.

– As per report, only two big states and three of the smaller ones have crossed the 8% target in FY 2020 – Delhi (contributing 18.7% of its total spending on health), Kerala (8%), Puducherry (10.5%), Meghalaya (8.9%), and Goa (8.7%).