21-04-2025
Govt urged to increase budget allocation for health
Vijayawada: Dr PV Ramesh, retired IAS officer and former Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Department emphasised that health should be recognised as a fundamental right of citizens and that providing healthcare to the public is a governmental responsibility. He insisted on increasing budgetary allocation for health care in AP and India.
Dr PV Ramesh has addressed a conference titled 'Privatisation of Medical Colleges and Analysis of Andhra Pradesh Health Budget' organised here on Sunday jointly by Praja Arogya Vedika(PAV), Jana Vignana Vedika, and Makineni Basava Punnayya Vignana Kendram. The conference was chaired by Dr MV Ramanayya, State President of the PAV.
Senior retired IAS officer Dr PV Ramesh and prominent budget analyst Dr David Sudhakar addressed the conference and explained the pitiful condition of health care in AP.
Ramesh expressed concern that despite change in the government, there has been no improvement in the health sector of Andhra Pradesh. He said that over the years, the successive governments have shirked their responsibilities on providing medical services and increasingly handing over healthcare to the private sector, which is very expensive.
He stated that treating healthcare as a business led to a focus on profit, sidelining public welfare and the services to the poor.
Dr Ramesh criticised the Andhra Pradesh government for neglecting its role in the health sector, citing examples such as transferring the government hospital in Chittoor to Apollo Hospitals and announcing plans to operate 10 medical colleges under public-private partnerships (PPPs). He condemned the practice of collecting crores of rupees through capitation fees and allocating seats irrespective of merit, calling it unjustifiable.
He further noted that statistics show 70 per cent ailments can be treated with basic medicines without the need for tests, yet corporate hospitals routinely exploit patients by prescribing unnecessary MRI and CT scans, costing crores of rupees.
T Kameshwara Rao, State General Secretary of the Praja Arogya Vedika stated that the privatisation through PPP models would allow college managements to sell half the seats, leading to skyrocketing fees, from Rs. 15,000 to Rs 12-20 lakh. This would reduce reservations by half, limit opportunities for poor students to become doctors, shift the medical sector's focus from service to commerce, and make healthcare inaccessible to the poor.
Dr MV Ramanayya called the government's self-financing model for medical seats under GOs 107 and 108 deplorable, as it is severely disadvantageous to the poor. He criticised the current coalition government for failing to repeal these GOs as promised and instead moving to privatise medical colleges, which he termed even more egregious.
Dr David Sudhakar, a budget analyst, pointed out that the World Health Organization recommends allocating at least 6 percent of GDP to healthcare, yet the Indian government spends less than 1.9 per cent stating it is very low.
He cited World Bank data showing that in 2021, Cuba spent 12.64 per cent, the UK 19.35, Germany 10.27, the USA 9.6, Australia 9.47, and Japan 9.17 per cent of their GDP on healthcare. India's 2017 National Health Policy aimed at increasing healthcare spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025, but it remains below 1.9 per cent, he lamented.
In Andhra Pradesh, health sector allocations have not exceeded 1.3 per cent of the state's GDP over the past eight years.
Prominent cardiologist Dr A Poornanand and vascular surgeon Dr Makineni Kiran attended as chief guests. Other participants included G Vijay Prakash (Organising Convener, Public Health Forum), Kurra Ramarao (State General Secretary, Jana Vignana Vedika), T. Kranti Kiran (Secretary, Makineni Basava Punnayya Vignana Kendram), Dr P Sai Prasad (State Honorary President, PAV), medical students, and health sector activists.
The conference unanimously passed a resolution, proposed by T Kameshwara Rao, demanding Andhra Pradesh, with its 60 million citizens, to enact RIGHT TO HEALTH ACT, recognising health as a fundamental right, halting the destruction of the health sector through PPP-driven privatisation, and ensuring government medical colleges are operated under public control.
