Budget 2024: Indian Medical Association Proposes Investment in Public Sector Hospitals

Dr. R.V. Asokan, President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), stated that investment in health has stagnated and hospitals in the government sector, as well as their human resources, must be improved.

Speaking to the media ahead of the interim budget, Dr. Asokan stated that investment in the health sector has stagnated despite increased illness loads.

“For many years, our health investment has remained stagnant at 1.1% of GDP. This underfunding is responsible for substandard infrastructure and a scarcity of human resources. So, without considering the budget for drinking water sanitation, which we refer to as health determinants, we believe the core health budget should be at least 2.5%,” he added.

“We would want that the public sector [hospitals] be strengthened and human resources increase,” he added.

Furthermore, while acknowledging that the central government‘s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme was a very important initiative, Dr. Asokan believes it needs to be restructured so that private hospitals can benefit.

“Government hospitals receive two-thirds of all Ayushman Bharat funds. I believe that is a bad notion because people are not feeling relief. Because it is already free. So, it is another means of funding government hospitals, rather through insurance companies, who take a 10 to 15% share of service supply, which is a bad manner of funding our government hospitals,” Dr. Asokan stated.

“We believe that the Ayushman Bharat should be restructured to allow for strategic purchases from the private sector, while the government has its own channels for funding public sector hospitals directly,” stated the President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Speaking of ad hoc doctor appointments, he stated that they lack a sense of belonging.

“The main concern in the government sector is that doctors have been appointed ad hoc across the country for the past eight to nine months, so they lack a sense of belonging. Only through regular Public Service Commissions on a permanent basis, with all of the associated benefits, the government sector be handled correctly,” he asserted.

He was also asked about the affordability of medical education in private schools, and he stated that the National Medical Commission believed that approximately 50% of the seats should be left open for private medical colleges to determine.

“We fought against the establishment of the National Medical Commission on one of these important matters since every state had an inbuilt system in place that fixed the fees of private medical colleges through a government-appointed committee. The National Medical Commission had stated that around 50% of the seats would be left open for private medical colleges to decide,” he noted.

The Budget session of Parliament, the final session before the general elections due in April-May, will begin on January 31 and is expected to last until February 9. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the interim budget on February 1.

The session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament. The interim budget normally addresses the budgetary demands of the intervening period until a government is formed following the Lok Sabha elections.

Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, has called a meeting of floor leaders from various political parties in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.