Union Minister of Human Resource Development Mangapati Pallam Raju has called for public-private partnerships to provide better health services to the underserved sections of the population.
Quoting a WHO study, Raju said the estimated economic loss for India due to deaths caused by diseases in 2005 was 1.3 per cent of GDP. Due to the increase in the number of non-communicable diseases, this loss is estimated to increase to 5 per cent by 2015 if left unchecked, said the Minister, addressing the 17{+t}{+h} convocation of Sri Ramachandra University here on Saturday. “There has also been a marked increase in the incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” he said.
India also lags behinddeveloped nations in the doctor-patient ratio, he said. “There is one doctor for 1,953 people, coupled with acute shortage of nurses and health delivery personnel. There is an urgent need for strengthening public health through creation of necessary human resource capacities at all levels.” Recognising the “dire need” to provide affordable and effective healthcare, the government has launched many new initiatives, including the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), he said. “In order to achieve significant progress in the implementation of NRHM and higher education, the private sector needs to play a proactive role. The Government has to facilitate an incentivising mechanism for this.”
Raju hoped the government’s public-private partnership model will attract more private sector participation in the Twelfth Plan.
At the function, the minister gave away gold medals to meritorious students.