Ayushman Bharat needs to live long
Farmers are not the only people who commit suicide in our country. If one family member is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family may be forced to kill itself owing to financial burden that the treatment cost of the disease brings. Owing to the lobby of private hospitals, government hospitals aren't offering any great promising service to patients of this disease.
Smallest of the small health concerns can be a cause of worry for middle class owing to the claims that private hospitals are ensuring treatment is never efficient and economical. Govt hospitals are being gobbled up by corporate hospitals.
BPL card holders have some dedicated facilities for themselves. But the mode class people are facing major challenges in a accessing your education and healthcare.
General hospitals of a country soena a lot about its focus and commitment of a govt towards its citizens. Healthy citizens are the future of any country.
Hence the budgetary allocation made by a government towards health gains significance. As per the World Bank, India had spent only 3.8% of its GDP on health care services in 2015. While the global average of spending on health care services stands at 9.9%, America spends 16.8% for this purpose.
Only 15% people in India are covered by health insurance and more than 94% of health expenses are met using personal financial resources.
Hence an unexpected health emergency can consume the whole family with its expenses.
Owing to all this, Modiji's Ayushman Bharat is deemed to be a significant step towards ensuring health for all. Through this insurance, every family will receive Rs 5 lakh worth health insurance to be equally distributed to 10 cr families in the country.
This scheme is said to be initiated ay different from Swasthya Bima Yojana that existed in the past. This would be introduced under AB-NHPM and this also includes upgrading of the existing primary health care centres to disburse better services and assistance. Insurance amount has been increased from Rs 30,000 in the past to RS 5 lakh now.
The government hopes to reach 40% of the country's population through this, while digitalising Rajiv Aarogyasri Health insurance on the lines of what exists in Andhra.
But there are already questions about the misuse of this scheme.
Though the scheme is wonderful, some aspects may turn into challenges and ruin its whole purpose.
About 40% cost of this scheme has to be met by state governments.
Since this adds financial burden on the states, they may seek financial aid from the centre to meet the expenses. Many states that are have glaring poverty may need more contribution from the central government. This will stretch them for resources.
This scheme may work well in urban areas, but rural sector will still suffer the lack of facilities because good hospitals are still a distant dream in villages.
About 75% hospitals and clinics, along with 80% of doctors exist only in urban areas. They are serving only 28% of the population. Hence there is immense scarcity of resources and expertise in other parts of the state. There is just one bed per 1000 persons at India while the developed nations have about 6.5%.
There are about 0.6% doctor per 1000 patient in India while developed nations have 3 doctors for the same number.
Only 37% people are entitled to avail health services as inpatients within 5 km radius of their living spaces and another 68% people can access healthcare services as outpatients in the same space. According to the World Bank, till 2015 over 15% of Indian children could not get vaccine for various reasons. Private hospitals are most certainly capable of using up every lacunae in govt hospitals for their own benefit. Lack of facilities provided by the government will force people to reach out to private hospitals which may exploit the insured person to fill its own coffers. Unnecessary procedures and surgeries may be performed for the sake of sucking money out of the system. This may push the patient to the brink of death. The family will be in penury over such expenses.
At the same time it is important to observe the behaviour of doctors in government hospitals as well. Running a private hospital is much more economically beneficial than working in a govt hospital alone. Hence it is an open secret that most doctors run private practice on the side. Since health insurance sector has private hospitals in its kitty, it would encourage most govt doctors to run a private hospital or a private practice on the sly.
This whole arrangement may facilitate people to depend more on private hospitals for even smallest of the ailments for which they'd never visit a doctor earlier. A monitoring system to manage all this is much needed.
One does not know whether the govt is aware of all these aspects and probabilities, and if there is a system in place to check them.
We must remember private hospitals are quite a gold mine for insurance companies. We need to focus on making govt hospitals better with facilities and service delivery. If govt hospitals can deliver better services compared to private hospitals at economical prices, the latter will naturally reduce their costing too.
Health services are better and popular among people when they are economical and of good quality. This is a simple truth. For instance private hospitals in Tamil Nadu are competing to overtake govt hospitals which are way better. This way private ones have to keep their prices low to attract the footfall of patients.
As against this, private hospitals in Uttar Pradesh have skyrocketing prices. Hence the govt needs to focus on preserving and making govt hospitals better than before in order to reach the benefits of its schemes such as Ayushman Bharat. Private hospitals need to be kept in check. Else they'd turn out to be the biggest threats to people's health.
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
