THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 18 March 2020 (Fight for the finite: On budgetary allocation for health (The Hindu))

Fight for the finite: On budgetary allocation for health (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Health
Prelims level: SARS-CoV-2
Mains level:Increasing budgetary allocation for health

Context:

• It is an incontrovertible truth that material resources are finite. Demand in most sectors will continue to exceed supply in times of a pandemic.
• With the number of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases on the rise, and the number of deaths going up as well, the question is whether national and state health systems will be able to cope with ever-rising demands — for testing kits, for hospital beds, ventilators, why, even masks and hand sanitisers.

Highlights of the demand:

• This extraordinary demand has traditional production and systems of delivery choking and most often, unable to match supply to demand.
• Health-care resources, ............................

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India’s healthcare system:

• With India crossing 100 positive cases, it is impossible to ignore the question about whether the health system is robust enough to meet this emergency. What is known, however, does not inspire confidence.
• For years, India’s health expenditure as a percentage of GDP has been abysmal at about 1%.
• As per the National Health Profile, 2019, collated by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence unit of the Directorate General of Health Services, there has been no significant change in health-care expenditure since 2009-2010.
• The highest it has been in the decade is 1.28 % of the GDP, and hit the nadir at 0.98 % in 2014-2015.

Per capita expenditure:

• The report does record that per capita public expenditure on health in nominal terms went up from ₹621 in 2009-10 to ₹1,112 in 2015-16.
• A WHO bulletin of .............................

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Way forward:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a promise to increase public health spending to 2.5 % of GDP by 2025.
• His government would do well to treat this epidemic as an opportunity to drastically scale up budgetary allocations for health to facilitate expansion of capacity.
• Health budgetary allocation must go up if India is to prepare for an unpredictable epidemic.
• Epidemics are known to change the course of history; India must steer this one to harness finite resources optimally for the benefit of all.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the 15th Finance Commission, consider the following statements:
1. The Commission has reduced the vertical devolution — the share of tax revenues that the Centre shares with the states — from 42% to 32%.
2. The Commission intends to set up an expert group to initiate a non-lapsable fund for defence expenditure.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both
(d) None

Answer: ....................................

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Mains Questions:
Q.1)Health budgetary allocation must go up if India is to prepare for an unpredictable epidemic. Critically examine.