Budget 2024: Indian Medical Association seeks investment in public sector hospitals

New Delhi [India], January 29 : Investment in health has stagnated and hospitals in the government sector and their human resources must be strengthened, according to President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said Dr RV Asokan.
Speaking to ANI ahead of the interim budget, Asokan said that investment in the health space has stagnated even as disease burdens have risen.
"Our health investment has stagnated at 1.1 per cent of the GDP for many years. This underfunding is a reason for poor infrastructure and lack of human resources. So we feel without including the budget of drinking water sanitation, which we call health determinants, the core health budget should be at least 2.5 per cent...," he told ANI over an online video interview.
"We would want that the public sector (hospitals) be strengthened and human resources increase," he said.
Further, noting that the flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme was a very important initiative of the central government, Asokan, however, feels it needs restructuring so that the private hospitals can also benefit.
"Two-third of the funding for Ayushman Bharat goes to government hospitals. I think that's not a great idea because the people are not feeling the relief. Because already it is free. So, it is another way of funding the government hospitals, rather through insurance companies, where they take a share of service provision for 10 to 15 per cent, which is a poor way of funding our government hospitals," Asokan said.
"We feel the Ayushman Bharat should be restructured for strategic purchases from the private sector and the government has its own channels to fund public sector hospitals through direct sources," President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said.
Speaking about the ad hoc appointments of doctors, he said such appointments lack sense of belongingness.
"The very concern in government sector is there has been ad-hoc appointment of doctors across the country for eight to nine months, so they don't have a sense of belonging. It has to be through regular Public Service Commission's on a permanent basis with all those accompanying benefits then only the government sector could be run properly," he asserted.
He was also asked about the affordability in medical education in private institutions, to which he said that the national medical commission was of the view that around 50 per cent of the seats should be left free for the private medical colleges to determine.
"We fought against the introduction of the national medical commission on one of these very important factors, because there was an inbuilt mechanism in every state where even the fees of the private medical college was fixed by a committee appointed by the government. The national medical commission had said that around 50 per cent of the seats will be left free for the private medical colleges to determine," he explained.
The Budget session of Parliament, the last session before the general elections expected in April-May, will begin on January 31 and is likely to continue till February 9.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget on February 1.
The session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament
The interim Budget typically takes care of the fiscal needs of the intervening period till a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls.
A meeting of the floor leaders of various political parties in both Houses of Parliament will be convened on Tuesday by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi.