NHA report for 2017-18 released: Centre's health expenditure in GDP increased 1.35 pc

According to a statement, this is the fifth consecutive NHA report produced by National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry.

"The 2017-18 NHA estimates not only show government expenditure on health exhibiting an increasing trend but also growing trust in the public health care system," it said.

With the present estimate of NHA 2017-18, India has a continuous Time Series on NHA estimates for both government and private sources for five years since 2013-14, it added.

Further, it informed that these estimates are not only comparable internationally, but also enable the policymakers to monitor progress towards universal health coverage as envisaged in the National Health Policy, 2017.

While releasing the NHA report, Bhushan emphasised that the NHA estimates for 2017-18 clearly show that there has been an increase in the share of government health expenditure in the total GDP of the country.

"It has increased from 1.15 per cent in 2013-14 to 1.35 per cent in 2017-18. Additionally, the share of Government Health Expenditure in total health expenditure has also increased over time," the report shows.

"In 2017-18, the share of government expenditure was 40.8 per cent, which is much higher than 28.6 per cent in 2013-14.that the NHA estimates for 2017-18," it added.

The findings also show that the Government's health expenditure as a share of total Government expenditure has increased from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18, clearly indicating Government's priority for the health sector in the country, it further said.

The nature of the increase in the Government's health sector is also moving in the right direction as more emphasis has been given to primary healthcare.

"However, in the case of the private sector, the share of tertiary care has increased but primary and secondary care show a declining trend. In the private sector, the share of primary and secondary care has declined from 84 per cent to 74 per cent, " it said.

The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted System of Health Accounts 2011, provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), the statement said. (ANI)