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Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 17
The World Health Statistics Report 2018 published by the WHO tonight pegs India’s per capita health expenditure per year at a meagre $63 that translates to around Rs 4,200.
This is among the lowest for developing countries with China posting a per capita spending of $426, Thailand $217, Malaysia $386, Philippines $127, Sri Lanka $118 and Indonesia $112.
In the immediate neighbourhood, Pakistan has reported a per person health expenditure lower than India’s at $38. Bhutan has a better spending of $91.
The more advanced countries have much better health expenditure figures with Ireland reporting $4,757, Japan $3,733 and Israel $2,756. Even war-torn Iraq’s per capita health spending is higher than India’s at $154. African countries Ghana and Gabon are also better than India on the indicator posting $80 and $198. The global average per capita spending, as per the WHO’s latest report, is $822 with the South-East Asian region comprising India faring poorly at $176. Of the 11 nations in WHO’s South-East Asian region, India is third from the bottom in terms of health spending per capita per year. These statistics are based on the data the governments share with the WHO for the annual publication of the crucial report and latest national statistics the WHO has.
The report comes when the government is pushing the National Health Protection Scheme to drive down costs of healthcare and reduce expenditures. The report pegs India's health spending at 3.9% of GDP. Of this, public spending is just 1.15%, which the government aims to raise to 2.5% by 2025.
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