Thursday
September 15
2022

Analysis: India Must Improve Its Standard of Care To Achieve Universal Healthcare

India’s efforts to improve its record on delivering healthcare for everyone largely rests on two planks: government-backed insurance products and a large network of healthcare facilities. This approach, despite its intuitive appeal, may be insufficient unless steps are taken to improve the quality of care as well. Tailored performance incentive programmes and simple behavioural nudges for healthcare staff can be effective tools for policymakers to that end.

The WHO says unaffordable medical bills push around 100 million people into poverty every year, hitting people living in low-income countries the hardest. The number in India, by some estimates, could be around 60 million. Seen through this lens, the Indian government’s Ayushman Bharat programme, designed to protect the poor from financial shock and easing access to affordable health care, is a natural approach to meet its universal health coverage goals.

Photo courtesy of Pete Lewis /DFID.

Source: Science the Wire (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care