With an aim to provide assured health services to all, the union cabinet has accorded its nod to the much-awaited National Health Policy (NHP). As a crucial component, the policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5 percent of the GDP in a time bound manner from way below 2 percent GDP expenditure on the sector at present.
In order to provide access and financial protection, it proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency and essential healthcare services in all public hospitals. Reduce mortality rate of children under 5 years of age to 23 (per 1000) by 2025 and maternal mortality rate (MMR) from current levels to 100 by 2020. Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 by 2019. Reduce neo-natal mortality to 16 and still birth rate to 'single digit' by 2025. To improve and strengthen the regulatory environment, the policy seeks putting in place systems for setting standards and ensuring quality of healthcare.
Health Minister J.P. Nadda has said that NHP would aim at increasing life expectancy to 70 years from 67.5 and reduce fertility rate to 2.1 by 2025. He added that this policy has come after a gap of 15 years to address the current and emerging challenges necessitated by the changing socio-economic, technological and epidemiological landscape.
Highlighting some of the key targets of the policy, Nadda said that the NHP aims to raise public spending on health besides revisiting public private partnerships in the health sector. The policy envisages providing a larger package of assured comprehensive primary healthcare through the 'Health and Wellness Centers'. It is a comprehensive package which includes care for major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mental health, geriatric healthcare, palliative care and rehabilitative care services.
Nadda further said that the policy aims to ensure availability of 2 beds per 1000 population distributed in a manner to enable access within golden hour. It also looks at reforms in the existing regulatory systems both for easing manufacturing of drugs and devices to promote ‘Make in India’, as also for reforming medical education. The policy advocates development of mid-level service providers, nurse practitioners, public health cadre to improve availability of appropriate health human resource.
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