India still has a “great distance” to go in ensuring proper healthcare systems to its teeming population, President Pranab Mukherjee said here.

Addressing a gathering of medical professionals and students, he said the public sector healthcare system of the country is “limited” and it needs to spread further.

“Despite the progress made in our healthcare system, we still have great distance to cover. The public sector health service in our country is limited by its reach.

“Many in our population are dependent on the private sector for delivery of health services,” he said while inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Government T. D. Medical College here.

The medical college established in 1963 has produced over 4,200 doctors during the five decades of its existence.

Delving into the country’s medical care system, Mukherjee, who is on a day-long visit to the State, said it should be such that no one is “denied speciality medical treatment due to high costs”.

“It is burdensome for poor people to access expensive medical treatment and many fall into the trap of poverty on account of that,” he said.

The President added that the quality of healthcare delivery by some of the health service providers in the country leaves “much to be desired”.

“We must correct this situation by expanding good quality, affordable public sector healthcare facilities.

“Our public expenditure on healthcare was 1.04 per cent of GDP during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period. This should rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of the Twelfth Plan period if we are to augment public health care in the country in a big way,” he said.

He emphasised on the age old proverb of ‘health is wealth’ and said the “well being of a nation is dependent on the well being of its people”.

“Unless the health of the people is secured, the productive potential of the country cannot be realised to the full extent,” he said.

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