Health financing for the public health sector has always been an issue for India. There has been significant progress in healthcare budget allocation. However, the public health sector in India continues to be underfunded.
An international financial institution has offered to make healthcare financing easy for India. World Bank has recently committed to providing India with a loan of $1 billion to support the public health infrastructure. The loan will be in the form of two complimentary loans of $500 million each. The agreement was signed by Mr. Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Mr. Auguste Tano Kaunamé, World Bank India country director.
The World Bank will be supporting India's flagship Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) through one loan. The mission was launched in October 2021 to improve public health infrastructure in India.
One of the loans will be given to seven states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. The purpose of this loan will be to prioritize healthcare delivery in these seven states.
Pandemic preparedness and health systems strengthening has been a top priority for countries all over the world after the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary aim is to improve India's preparedness and resilience against future pandemics.
According to the Economic Survey 2021-22, India spends around 2.1% of its GDP on healthcare. It is still less than developed countries and even neighboring countries like China. The National Health Policy 2017 has envisaged spending around 2.5% of GDP on healthcare.
(Input from various media sources)