Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Make healthcare a poll issue’

Bangalore: Even as Karnataka is fast turning into a hub for medical tourism, its public health system is seeing a rapid decline. This has prompted a group of non-governmental organisations involved in healthcare to underline it as an election issue.

Janaarogya Andolana, an umbrella group of NGOs focusing on healthcare, has urged all political parties to sit up and take notice of the “deep crisis” facing the public health system and work towards improving it by providing better budgetary allocation and manpower. Steering committee member of Andolana, Prasanna Saligram, told presspersons here on Wednesday that the Karnataka Government has allocated a meagre 3.37 per cent of its Gross State Domestic Product to health, of which 80 per cent is spent on salaries of personnel.

Inadequate staff, lack of medicines and medical equipment, and rampant corruption have further eroded the system, he said.

Quoting the National Family Health Survey report, he said that the statistics indicate that the public health scenario in Karnataka compares poorly with the neighbouring States.

He pointed out that more than 40 per cent of people hospitalised are forced to borrow money because of escalating costs.

About 25 per cent of those hospitalised end up being pushed below the poverty line because of hospital expenses.

An average rural household, he added, spends 58 per cent of its income on medical expenses.

Janaarogya Andolana has demanded amendment of the Constitution to make healthcare a fundamental right and a comprehensive Karnataka State Public Health Act. It has sought a hike in the State’s budgetary allocation to 10 per cent of the total State expenditure. It has also demanded stringent control of private hospitals and stop in privatisation of public healthcare system.

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