Dr. JP calls for creation of National Health Service

Lok Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today appealed to all parties to come together and help create an equivalent of Britain's National Health Service.

If a war-ravaged Britain could constitute the NHS as early as in 1948, there is no reason why India endowed with better resources and technologies today could not go in for it, said Dr. JP in a media statement.

Welcoming the recommendations of the expert group on healthcare headed by Dr. K. Srinadha Reddy, Dr. JP recalled that as member of the National Advisory Committee he drafted a proposal in 2005, and suggested the launching a National Health Mission to ensure health coverage for both in-patients and out-patients. It envisaged 100 percent free coverage for primary and secondary healthcare and insurance-based coverage for tertiary care. It involved participation of and competition between the public and private sectors. There would be standard operating procedures and payments for interventions. Doctors in Government hospitals would be compensated based on their performance.

Dr. JP said that the Union Government chose to implement a diluted National Health Mission by opting for a National Rural Health Mission earlier and a National Urban Health Mission now.

Dr. JP said that the failure of successive Governments to attend to public health has led to perpetuation of poverty, indebtedness and resultant suicides. India is the only major country in the world which has an appalling healthcare system. Although the UPA had committed itself to increasing health expenditure to 3 percent of GDP, it still remains at 1.1 percent.

The Lok Satta Party, he pointed out, has all along maintained that Arogyasri implemented in Andhra Pradesh is flawed since it catered to the needs of two percent of patients who needed tertiary care at the expense of the 98 percent of patients who needed primary and secondary care.