Increase the number of hospital beds, health sector experts tell FM in pre-budget consultations

Experts from the health and education sectors urged the government to increase the number of hospital beds and raise awareness about the country’s education policy during pre-budget consultations with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.

Health experts have suggested ways to improve the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme so that the poor can access quality healthcare at lower prices, besides focusing on social welfare in the women and child sector, two – stated the people who were at the meeting.

Ayushman Bharat aims to reach out to over 100 million poor and vulnerable families, or about 500 million people, by providing care to ₹5 lakh per family per year for hospitalization for secondary and tertiary care.\

There should be at least 3.5 beds per thousand: WHO

“We have less than two (hospital) beds per thousand people. WHO says we should have at least 3.5 beds per thousand people. There is also a huge disparity in bed density across states. For example, Karnataka has four beds per thousand people, but Bihar has only 0.3. The government will have to review the healthcare policies of the states,” said Girdhar Gyani, CEO, Association of Healthcare Providers of India.

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Experts also suggested establishing a separate unit to raise awareness of the national education policy.

“States need to be more aware of the objective of the National Education Policy. A separate cell (for this purpose) can be set up,” said Anant Pandhare, trustee of Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan.

“The government is very keen to promote pro-poor programmes like combating malnutrition and strengthening ASHA workers. The government has taken note of the suggestion to combat childhood diabetes and congenital diabetes,” Pandhare added.

The new education policy, approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2020, proposes several reforms, including private sector research funding, structural changes in school education, creation of a national research foundation, integration of vocational and coding education from upper primary schools, among others other.

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This is the third national education policy since India’s independence.

Outstanding experts took part in the consultations on Thursday, including: Arvinder J. Singh (Ashoka University), Ajit Ranade (Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics), Rukmini Banerjee (Pratham Education Foundation), Reddy Subrahmanyam, former Secretary, Higher Education and Social Justice.

Senior finance ministry officials present at Thursday’s meetings include Ajay Seth, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and principal economic advisor to the government V. Anantha Nageswaran, finance secretary T V Somanathan.

The Minister of Finance has already met with economists, representatives of industry, the capital market and the financial sector, agricultural associations, SMEs, leaders of the trade and services sector, the employment sector and vocational training.

On Saturday, Sitharaman will meet with experts from the infrastructure, energy and urban planning sectors.