Health Care in India: Vision 2030- Part II

(This article concentrates on the steps the government should implement to tackle the health issues using the resources available in our country. The next article will focus on creation of awareness and the steps each individual should take in making India healthy).

A health care model is designed to solve the health care issues in our nation in an effective and economic manner. The main aim of the proposed health care model is to make the government the BIG DADDY in the Health care industry so that each and every citizen of India gets efficient medical facilities irrespective of their economic, social and geographic barrier.

The government must realize that it cannot do the task of making India healthy alone as it does not have the infrastructure and facilities. A private-public partnership should exist in the Indian health care system. They must grant a license for the corporate hospitals to operate in the major cities. And this license should be granted only if the big shot medicos install a primary health centre in the nearby rural area that will work under a subsidized rate.

Highly skilled doctors are aplenty in our nation and the government must channel these invaluable resources in a proper manner. The doctors must also be granted a license to practice medicine in our year. They must be granted a license that will be renewed once a year only if they serve in rural areas for 52 days in a calendar year.

For this scheme to be implemented, a transparency in the medical system is in need that will ensure records are maintained properly.

India has making strides globally with medical tourism in our nation growing at 30% per year and the value is projected to escalate. The government must introduce Medical Inland Duty that requires medical tourists to pay 5% of the expenditure concurred by them for their treatment.

Nowadays, every single commodity that is available comes in the branded form and that includes medicines also. Due to a competitive market, the rivalry between pharmaceutical companies in a bid to overtake one another has resulted in the medicines becoming expensive.

The doctors must hereby prescribe Generic Medicines- i.e. medicines in their molecular form. The medical shops must also have a database of medicines that lists them in their generic and branded format categorically. This would mean that a person can go to the medicine shop and buy the medicines according to his economic standards.

The next step involved is to implement technology to effectively increase the standards of our health care system. One such upcoming technology is Telemedicine. The concept of virtual doctors combined with telemedicine facilities will ensure access to health care in remote areas. The primary health centers that are set up by corporate hospitals will be equipped with telemedicine. This will tackle the severe technical manpower faced in hospitals across the nation.

A main flaw in the current health care system is the lack of proper network. A Health Database must be set up across the entire nation that keeps a record of every patient. This database can be accessed with the help of a Health Card that is mandate for every citizen. In this way, we can avoid any repetition of investigations leading to a cost effective treatment procedure. The database will be interconnected across the various states for easier reference.

Our country must realize that in order to attain the tag of a developed country, the government must take pro-active steps in the best interests of the nation.