Flagging skewed nature of health infrastructure, N K Singh, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, has suggested increasing public spending on the health sector to 2.5 per cent of the GDP in four years from 0.95 per cent at present. Singh said it is ‘unfortunate’ that the poorest part of the country has worst infrastructure. He also said that both centre and states need to improve their public outlay on health significantly.
Singh said ‘there is no doubt that public sector spending by both centre and states need to go up very significantly. Our endeavour must be to raise public spending from 0.95 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2024. This would comprise spending by both centre and states’. According to him, regulatory changes such as how to broaden the MBBS course could also be looked at. He said ‘I think that the private sector participation can be at other levels of specialty and at also levels on which they are better placed given their innovative skill’.
He noted that the Finance Commission's recommendations will turn out to be a ‘shiny example’ of PPP (Public Private Partnership). The 15th Finance Commission submitted its report pertaining to the period -- 2021-22 to 2025-26 -- to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 9. The report will be made public after it is tabled in Parliament. Singh said frontline health workers who continue to play a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic deserve much greater recognition.