'Reform health care to combat poverty'

NAGPUR: "India has the worst data of poverty especially that in Madhya Pradesh is abysmal", said Amir Khan, deputy director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at a seminar held at Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Nagpur, on Friday.
The focus was to highlight inclusive and sustainable growth as well as the role of industries, government and society to avoid environmental degradation.Khan and Madhura Chatrapathy who is a noted entrepreneur, were among the guests who attended the seminar.
Khan informed that new ways should be formulated to promote sustainable development and growth in all sectors of the country as pollution is now the burning problem of the day.
He pressed for a judicious use of natural resources without causing further deterioration of the environment. He said, "Budding entrepreneurs should keep all these factors in mind to promote an overall healthy development of the economy. What we have now is very strong and resilient economy but not sustainable in nature."
"Without adding to the pollution or environmental degradation, we have to learn how other countries attain and maintain prosperity on the whole," he added.
Apart from highlighting surfacing of environmental crisis, Khan also emphasized the development of the health care sector in our country. He informed that although there has been a sporadic growth in our country's economy but poverty continues to haunt economists as a sizzling issue.
He informed that the health care sector should be improved to help the rural folk who are mostly deprived of better access to quality medical benefits.
He said, "It is imperative that we draw attention towards the advancement of health care sector in our country. Poverty cannot always be defined on the basis of the roti, kapda aur makaan trilogy always; health is an important factor which indirectly affects the GDP of the country."
"In a rapidly increasing population, the government faces an uphill task of feeding many mouths. Also, there is disparity in the prices of commodities which is unique only to our country, representing the broken and fragmented economy of ours" he averred.
He informed that he has worked relentlessly to reduce the prevalence of HIV AIDS in the society and has contributed for the development in the field of maternal and childcare health also.
"As per statistics, one factor that has the highest co-relation to poverty is the absence of health care. 27% of the poverty is due to an inefficient health care sector in rural areas" he said.
speakoutnagpur@timesgroup.com