Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'NHPM is a good idea' that was published in Newsband

NHPM is a good idea

The NDA government’s scheme to provide health cover of ₹5 lakh per year to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families through the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission is a good idea. The States, which have a statutory responsibility for provision of health care, have to act quickly and form dedicated agencies to run the scheme. Such legislation would strengthen entitlement to care, which is vital to the scheme’s success. It will also enable much-needed regulatory control over pricing of hospital-based treatments.

The scheme should extend the benefits to the vulnerable groups such as senior citizens, women and children contingent. The government should take the bold step of including these groups universally; the financial risk can be borne by the taxpayer.

Universal health coverage is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a state when “all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them”. With its endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, India will have to hurry up to meet the deadline. This underscores the importance of raising not just core budgetary spending every year, but paying attention to social determinants of health.

NHPM has a national character, with States playing a crucial role in its implementation, and beneficiaries being able to port the service anywhere. It is a challenging task to make all this a reality. Modi's scheme is a noble one. He will be a blessed person for giving cheap health care to crores of people.

It is a good scheme, to begin with, and agreed that there must be legislative measures to protect the Rights to services under this scheme. However, it seems that the State Governments are not on Board, as Government of Maharashtra has not only increased OPD registration fee but also has decided to charge for various Health related certificates such as Disability certificate and this runs contrary to what GoI aims through this Scheme. The central Health Minister should immediately start consultations with State Health Ministers and develop a National consensus on how to roll out the scheme.

The major portion of the amount sanctioned to the needy poor should not be swallowed by the officials themselves. With management and other quota doctors still around which system could produce and with only self-serving doctors and with no atmosphere of sense of service presented for medical students any such measure would be a failure. When even wealthy men are taken for rides by hospitals one shudders to think of the poor people who don't know where to sign and complete paperwork which even educated won't read at the time admission.