Activists urge Rajasthan government hike the health budget

JAIPUR: Health and human rights activists joined hundreds of concerned citizens on Saturday, World Health Day, to petition the government to provide better health services and hike the health budget to at least three per cent of state GDP. People across 24 of the state’s 33 districts signed the petition, urging the state government to provide affordable health care services for all, free essential medicines and diagnostics.
The memorandum urged the state to implement Clinical Establishments Act 2010, which provides for regulation of clinical establishments so that they offer quality services at optimal rates, and bring about policy to end malnutrition.The memoranda were handed over to district collectors, and a copy was attached for the chief minister and the state health minister.
The petitions urged the government to desist from privatization of health facilities, for this is one of the major responsibilities of the government. It called for raising the health budget to at least 3 per cent of the state’s GDP; at present, the health budget is just about one per cent, grossly inadequate for the state’s nearly seven crore population.
“More than 100 rural and urban Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the state have been handed over to different private agencies by the government in the past two years. Several citizens’ groups and health and human rights activists have been aggressively opposing this careless move by the Rajasthan government,” a press release from the activists said.
The petition called on the government to reduce out-of-pocket health expenses that often reduces families to poverty. Petitioners pointed out that Rajasthan had adopted the Clinical Establishments Act (CEA) 2010, but its implementation was far from satisfactory. This was especially important now, as schemes like the Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana (BSBY) and other programs heavily depend on services rendered by private health care providers.