Public health spend will be 2.5 per cent of GDP: Modi

New Delhi: India is set to increase its public health spending to 2.5 per cent of its GDP by 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday, underlining that women, children and youth would continue to remain at the heart of every policy, programme and initiative of the government.

Addressing the 2018 Partners’ Forum here, Mr Modi said the high out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by families to avail medical care in India worried his government and to address the issue, it launched the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which has a two-fold strategy.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) provides cashless health insurance cover up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, covering 500 million poor citizens.

“This number is almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and the United States taken together. We have already provided free treatment worth Rs 700 crore to five lakh families under this scheme within 10 weeks of its launch,” he said.

The other arm of Ayushman Bharat, Mr Modi said, is the provision of comprehensive primary care at a facility near the community, for which the Centre will start 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022.

The community will also be able to receive free screening and care for common diseases including hypertension, diabetes and three common cancers: breast, cervix and oral. The patients will receive free medicines and diagnostic support close to their homes, he said.

At the event, Mr Modi said that the government is set to increase its spending on public health to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

As of now, the country spends 1.15 per cent of the GDP on health.

“This will mean an actual increase of 345 per cent over the current share, in just eight years. We will continue to work for the betterment of people. Women, children and youth will continue to remain at the heart of every policy, programme or initiative,” he said.

Mr Modi said that India’s immunisation programme, Mission Indradhanush, would be featured as a success story, among 12 others from all over the world, in the two-day forum.