Cabinet nod for universal healthcare, free drugs & diagnostic facilities on the cards

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet cleared on Wednesday the National Health Policy which puts forward a concrete framework for universal healthcare and suggests policy directives to make free drugs and diagnostic facilities available across the country, besides involving the private sector to make the services widely available, sources said.

The policy, which was pending for over two years, also suggests raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP from the current 1.2 per cent. Union health minister J P Nadda is expected to make a statement on the policy in Parliament on Thursday.

The policy addresses issues of universal health coverage by making essential drugs, diagnostic facilities and insurance available for all. The idea is to reduce out of pocket expenditure on health.

While the final contours of the policy will come up in its detail implementation framework, it suggests increasing private participation and making manufacturing of devices easy for Indian manufacturers. “The policy states to create an environment for private sector to grow and align it with public health,” a senior official said.

The policy also focuses on reducing maternal and infant mortality and addressing increasing burden of non communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disorders.

It suggests amendment of laws to align them with the current healthcare scenario.

The health ministry had placed the draft policy in public domain for comments in January 2015. It, however, got stuck following criticism that it was too long and did not provide any mechanism to implement the agenda.

Later, the ministry held several rounds of discussions with stakeholders, including states and other government departments, to build consensus. The government, however, dropped from the final draft one of the key proposals to make health a fundamental right.