Hefty bills preventing the sick from seeking medical help

Expensive healthcare is preventing people from seeking medical help. Though a majority do seek medical advice for ailments, financial constraints were the single biggest reason for those who do not, according to a new report by the National Sample Survey Organisation.

The Health of India survey conducted between January and June 2014 indicated that in the rural areas, 57 per cent who do not see a doctor cited financial constraints, while in cities 68 per cent belonged to this category. A clear indication of rising costs can been seen: the results of the 2004 survey showed only 28 per cent of the rural and 20 per cent of the urban settlers had cited money as a reason.

“The data indicates that cost considerations keep people out of paid healthcare services by hospitals. It reflects the inadequate trust that people have in treatment from primary health centres,” said DK Srivastava, Chief Policy Adviser, EY.

While rising healthcare costs are generally associated with the private sector, public healthcare too has become almost twice as expensive since 2004.

In villages, the average treatment costs of a person checking into a government hospital have risen to ₹5,632 in 2014 from ₹3,238 in 2004. Public healthcare costs in cities have become just as prohibitive, having risen to ₹7,670 from ₹3,877.

While a rural patient checking into a private hospital in 2004 would have paid an average bill of ₹7,408, that amount has trebled to ₹21,726 in a decade. For an urban dweller too, the cost has trebled from ₹11,553 in 2004 to ₹32,375.

The survey also revealed that the entire process of seeking medical attention entails enormous out-of-pocket expenditure; hospitalisation accounts for just a fraction of total healthcare costs in India (28 per cent in rural and 32 per cent in urban). Over and above hospitalisation, purchasing medicines accounts for a chunk of the expenditure.

The numbers are especially troubling considering that the survey has also found that “more than 70 per cent (72 per cent in rural and 79 per cent in urban) spells of ailment were treated in the private sector.”

This, coupled with the fact that 86 per cent of the rural population and 82 per cent of the urban population are not covered under any health expenditure support scheme, establishes that healthcare appears to be getting out of reach of the average citizen.