The Hindu Business Line : Plan panel suggests measures to make healthcare accessible to all

IN a bid to streamline and step up the healthcare system in the country, the Planning Commission has suggested a slew of measures including the setting up a Public Health Development Authority (PHDA) with a corpus of Rs 500 crore and launching `Sarwa Swasthya Abhiyan' to make healthcare accessible to all.

In its mid-term appraisal report to be placed before the National Development Council (NDC) meeting here on Monday, the Plan panel has said that the Authority would use the funds to expand capacity in the public health and develop information technology infrastructure.

It will also be utilised for setting standards of quality assurance healthcare; develop and disseminate national practice guidelines and consumer information. All this would enable in boosting consumer confidence, curb malpractices and create an ethical environment for generating more appropriate healthcare delivery system in the country.

The setting up of a National Authority for Drugs and Therapeutics (NADT) has also been suggested to ensure integrated planning to monitor the pricing, availability and quality of drugs.

In order to mobilise resources for the NADT, the panel has said that the Government could also consider levying a one per cent cess on the manufacture and import of pharmaceuticals to be collected along with the customs and excise duties. The NADT would look after the interests of both the industry and the consumers.

Along with this, the Planning Commission has also mooted the proposal of launching a `Sarwa Swasthya Abhiyan', a project similar to the `Sarwa Sikhsha Abhiyan' launched for promoting education. It has said that financial resources for this scheme could be mobilised from institutions like the World Bank.

Besides these suggestions, the panel has emphasised the need for augmenting resources for health. It has said that the National Rural Health Mission should focus on monitorable targets and develop a functioning primary healthcare system to address the unmet need among the poorest segments of the population.

Also, primary health centres should function 24-hours, as in the State of Tamil Nadu. A 30-50 bed functioning community hospitals for every 1 lakh population could be set up to strengthen the supervision over the primary health centres.

Every health sub-centre, primary health centre and the community hospital must be registered as Rogi Kalyan Samitis.

To ensure the availability of trained personnel, mapping systems of healthcare providers must be in place and there must be widespread training programmes to educate the healthcare provider on the national goals and priorities.

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