Kerala

Rising health-care cost affecting the poor: WHO

Over 40 per cent of low income group families in India end up incurring huge debts owing to the rising cost of health care. These families, which do not have access to safe drinking water, proper sanitation, nutrition and pollution-free environment, also fall ill more often owing to their circumstances, adding to their health care spending, says a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which studied the impact of increasing health care costs in six States in India.

According to the report, about 16 per cent of the families are pushed below the poverty line because of high health care expenditure. The results of the study, conducted between 2002-05 in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, was published recently.

The average health expenditure of a middle class family in India is Rs.116.7 a month and that when it come to the poor, it rises to Rs.202, which is often nearly half their total income.

According to the statistics provided by the South East Asian Region Office of WHO, the government’s share in total health spending ranges between 70 and 90 per cent in countries such as Canada and about 50 to 65 per cent in many South-East Asian countries. But in India the government’s share is just 25 per cent and the remaining 75 per cent of spending on health care is money spent by people out of their own pockets. WHO also says that India spends very little on preventive care.

C. Maya

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