Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said there is a 'costly misunderstanding' that private healthcare can improve public health in India. He said that the public health status in India has remained stationary whereas the rest of the world has moved ahead.
Interacting during a function, Amartya sen said, "While India spends only 1.2 percent of its GDP to public health, China spends around 2.7 percent. Most countries spend much more, bringing to the fore the very little commitment to public health by our own government. Unless there is a basic foundation of public health care system, private healthcare cannot succeed. It has not happened in other countries including the rich and the developed, it will not happen in India."
Commenting on the public health situation in India, Sen said, "When the rest of the world has moved ahead, public health in India has remained stationery. Public health in the country is so alarmingly poor that we immediately need a fresh approach."
The noted economist further added, "While the public health system has not received the priority it deserved, there is a debilitating illusion, a nasty and costly misunderstanding, that somehow private health care system can come in and bridge the gap."
Commenting on the professional's attitude in the medical profession, He stressed of the "lack of professionalism" in the medical profession and said there was a steady tendency of turning the noble profession into a business.
While he advocated the legislation for a right to health, Sen said such legislation alone would not improve the health scenario in the country.
(With inputs from IANS)
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