NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, January 31, 2014

A new report launched by Accenture titled ‘Delivering e-Health in India – Analysis and Recommendations’ focuses on the access to healthcare systems in India as per global and regional standards. The report highlights the current status of the Indian healthcare industry and its growth in the past decade. It identifies that greater healthcare funding cannot guarantee better access to the healthcare facilities, unless accompanied by powerful and innovative interventions to improve the healthcare ecosystem.

While the system has evolved in India over the past 50-60 years, the coverage and service levels of the entire public health ecosystem remains inadequate. Indian healthcare system continues to suffer from underfunding and poor governance which have created significant inequities in providing basic health care. While India’s healthcare expenditure has increased in the past and the government plans to increase the same further to nearly 2.5 percent of the GDP in the 12th five year plan, India has invested less public money in health than most comparable countries. India’s overall health spending does reach 6 percent of the GDP but most of that is private money.