NEW DELHI:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an aim to increase the share of healthcare sector in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5 per cent, Union minister Rajnath Singh said today.
In his address at the Founder's Day celebrations of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) here, the home minister also asserted that the government considered the private sector as a "strategic partner" in its endeavour to achieve universal healthcare and health cover to all citizens.
"In a country of 125 crore people it is not an easy job to provide healthcare to all. There are various challenges which we have to meet…When it comes to government's expenditure, our healthcare sector accounts for 1.16 per cent of the GDP.
"But, I want to assure you, and our prime minister also talks about it. And, the PM has aimed that the GDP share of the healthcare sector should be increased to 2.5 per cent, and for that expenditure can be made," Singh said.
Highlighting the challenges in terms of number of doctors and nurses, and infrastructural needs, Singh said, the government wanted to "encourage investment in this field".
"If one looks at the current scenario in India, we have 0.6 doctors per thousand of population and 0.8 nurses per thousand of population, while the number of beds per thousand stands at 1.5. And, the situation is not so good at global level too," he said.
"So, we want to encourage investment in the preventive and promotive (healthcare) sector. We see the private sector as strategic partners in our endeavour to provide universal healthcare," the minister said.