Public expenditure on health sector in india

Health policy is an essential pillar of human welfare. Given the high degree of externality, the State has to play a significant role in health and healthcare provision. Unfortunately, evidence shows that public spending on healthcare in India is low and out of pocket spending by people is more than four times the government spending. While the low level of public spending on health is a known fact, reliable data on the actual public expenditure on health and its trend over time is not easily accessible. The National Health Accounts, the most authoritative and comprehensive source of health expenditure information in India, is highly infrequent. The subsequent use of partial data sets available on public health expenditures leads to flawed policymaking and less than desirable public health outcomes. In India, the Constitution assigns a predominant role in providing social infrastructure to the States. More specifically, Entry 6 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution assigns legislative responsibility to the States on matters related to “Public health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries”. Similarly, Entry 17 assigns the responsibility for water supplies to the States. Other interrelated matters such as medical education and medical professions are placed in Entries 25 and 26 of the Concurrent List. The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011). The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making.