Karnataka - Bangalore

Importance of micro-credit in healthcare stressed

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Medical insurance through micro-credit programmes can help people in rural and remote areas access healthcare facilities, Devi Prasad Shetty, cardiologist and managing director of Narayana Hrudayalaya said here Saturday.

Speaking through videoconferencing at the inauguration of "Innovation 2007," a national conference on healthcare leadership organised by the Padmashree College of Hospital Administration in collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) here, Dr. Shetty said he envisaged that in the future, the Government would become health insurance providers rather than healthcare providers.

He gave an example of a rural clinic in a village in Amethi, which had successfully run a micro-credit programme for the 20 lakh population there. The rural clinic collected 50 paise from each villager and it had been possible to run the clinic and provide free treatment to the entire community through such a scheme, he said.

Dr. Shetty said that there was a lack of cardiac surgeons in the country and there was need to encourage medical students to specialise in that field.

Chandrashekhar Shetty, former Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, stressed the need for having a balance between high technology and affordability.

Social accountability should be kept in mind when investments were made in the healthcare industry, Dr. Chandrashekhar said.

"Most often, doctors and hospitals talk about the high technology they are equipped with, but the question to ask is how many people can afford and access this kind of technology. There is a need for appropriate technology rather than hi-tech medical equipment which may not be affordable to many people," he added.

H.N. Ananth Kumar, MP, said there was need to decentralise the system at the primary health care level and quality of healthcare should not be compromised for easy and fast money.

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