29-Oct-2019: Union Health Minister urges stakeholders to implement the blueprint in a time bound manner
Urging the stakeholders to work towards implementing the National Digital Health Blueprint(NDHB) in a time bound manner, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that “Government of India is committed to ensuring high quality healthcare, accessible to all upto the last mile. The digital health interventions are accelerating this transformation and have a huge potential for supporting Universal Health care.” Sh. J. Satyanarayana, Former Chairman, UIDAI and Chairman of the National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB) Committee submitted the final NDHB report to Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
Shri. J. Satyanarayana provided a brief overview of the efforts that have gone into preparation of NDHB report and made a brief presentation on the overall framework as proposed in NDHB. He said that the priorities of Government of India in health care were included in the National Health Policy 2017 and this recommendation report by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has shown the implementation angle for achieving the same. He further added that this may be considered as the biggest leap of GoI towards achieving the goal of Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) with impetus on Digital Healthcare component.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that “The need of the hour is to create an ecosystem which can integrate the existing disparate health information systems and show clear path for upcoming programmes. There is a need to ensure convergence across these IT systems to monitor and provide health services in a robust and efficient manner. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initiated efforts in the direction of a comprehensive, nationwide integrated e-Health system under National Digital Health Blueprint.”
NDHB will help in providing a common platform for integration of existing applications in health domain and data which has existed in silos, either in public health facility, or, in private healthcare facility, in India. It was also updated that building on the initial document of “National Health Stack” (NHS) by NITI Aayog, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has defined clear timelines, targets and the resources required for this digital convergence of Healthcare programmes in India.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan referred to vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi, to reach each individual of this country with services at their doorstep under Digital India Programme and hoped that implementation of NDHB with programmes of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would benefit every individual.
1-Aug-2019: Health Ministry invites all for a stakeholders’ consultation to contribute to NDHB report
The Health Ministry is organising a stakeholder consultation under the chairpersonship of Secretary (HFW) on 06th August 2019 from 10:30 AM at the Speaker Hall, Constitution Club of India, Rafi Marg, Behind RBI Bank, Sansad Marg Area, New Delhi for seeking comments/suggestions on the National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB) report.
In order to fulfil the vision of National Health Policy 2017, the Committee constituted by the Health Ministry to create an implementation framework for the National Health Stack (NHS), has come up with the National Digital Health Blueprint after surveying the global best practices in adoption of digital technologies holistically. The report was placed in public domain on 15th July 2019 for public comments.
Industry/stakeholders willing to contribute in the event are required to register at the venue before 10:00 A.M. at the above mentioned address.
12-Sep-2022: National Health Estimates (2018-19) released
Dr. Vinod K. Paul, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog, in presence of Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare released findings of the National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India for 2018-19. In a significant update, various indicators related to health expenditure in the country have shown encouraging trend, which has been demonstrated on a sustained basis.
The NHA estimates for 2018-19 show that there has been an increase in the share of government health expenditure in the total GDP of the country. It has increased from 1.15% in 2013-14 to 1.28% in 2018-19.
Additionally, the share of Government Health Expenditure in Total Health Expenditure has also increased over time. In 2018-19, the share of government expenditure was 40.6%, substantially higher than the share of 28.6% in 2013-14.
NHA findings also indicate that Government’s health expenditure as a percentage of Current Health Expenditure has increased from 23.2% in 2013-14 to 34.5% in 2018-19.
It has also been observed that per capita government spending on healthcare has increased by 74% since 2013-14, i.e., Rs. 1042 to Rs. 1815 in 2018-19.
Aligning with the focus on providing healthcare services to all which comprises one of the policy recommendations of the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017, government is focusing on primary healthcare expenditure which has increased from 51.1% in 2013-14 to 55.2% in 2018-19.
Primary and secondary care accounts for more than 80% of the current Government Health Expenditure. In case of the private sector, the share of tertiary care has increased but primary and secondary care show a declining trend. Between 2013-14 and 2018-19, in government, the share of primary and secondary care has increased from 74% to 86%. On the other hand, in the private sector, the share of primary and secondary care has declined from 82% to 70% during the same period.
Due to several such steps, consequently, out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) as percentage of total health expenditure has declined substantially by 16% points, from 64.2% to 48.2%.
Out of pocket expenditure as a percentage of current health expenditure has also declined over time from 69.1% in 2013-14 to 53.2% in 2018-19.
Per capita out-of-pocket expenditure in the country has decreased by 8% since 2013-14, from Rs. 2,366 to Rs. 2,155 currently.
Focusing on social security has resulted in expenditure on health as a percentage of total health expenditure growing from 6% to 9.6% now.
The NHA also reveals that the government-financed health insurance expenditure has increased by 167% since 2013-14.
The NHA estimates for 2018-19 also indicate falling reliance on external funding in the health sector of the country. The findings from the report depict that foreign aid for health has come down to 0.4% in 2018-19 from 2.3% in 2004-05, showcasing India’s economic self-reliance.
“It is truly a moment of pride that we have in our nation a systematic, robust, reliable transparent accounts and accounting of spending on health. Such reports will help us with clear decision-making processes in line with National Health Policy recommendation of 2017.” Dr. V K Paul stated this while congratulating everyone on NHA Estimates report launch which is sixth consecutive since 2013-14. He said that National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) has ensured that all such reports are published without any interruption and follows academic rigor along with robust methodology and approach. Since, these reports are used by researchers, policy makers and program implementors, therefore, their robustness is critical.
Dr. Paul noted that the guiding principle of government from last few years has been to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health by citizens, which pushes individuals and families into poverty. As per National Health Account Estimates 2018-19 launched today, OOPE has substantially declined by almost 16% points as a percentage of current health expenditure from 2014 to 2018-19. Even in the case of per capita OOPE, there has been a decline. The report also provides a comparison of the per-capita OOPE of India with other countries, using Global Health Expenditure Database provided by WHO. In the group of 189 countries, India ranks 66th for per capita OOPE.
Union Health Secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan focused on the significant shift in the nature of government expenditure. The increased focus on primary health care reinforces government’s decision to prioritize primary healthcare in the country. The report captures that 55.2% of the government expenditure currently has been on primary health. This not only ensures quality services at the grassroot level but also reduces the chances of ailments requiring secondary or tertiary healthcare services, he pointed out.
Shri Rajesh Bhushan also focused on the social security expenditure on health as a percentage of the total health expenditure. The social security expenditure on health which includes the social health insurance program, government-financed health insurance schemes, and medical reimbursements made to government employees, has increased from 6% in 2013-14 to 9.6% in 2018-19. This is a significant increase which shows that the common people of India are better equipped and better provided in terms of healthcare at their doorstep and making health more accessible.
About National Health Account (NHA) estimates:
The National Health Account (NHA) estimates for India 2018-19 is the sixth consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by NHSRC, designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry. The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted standard of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
With the present estimate of NHA, India now has a continuous series of NHA estimates for the country, from 2013-14 to 2018-19. These estimates are not only comparable internationally, but also enable the policymakers to monitor the progress in different health financing indicators of the country.
30-Oct-2019: Dr. Harsh Vardhan releases the 14th National Health Profile, 2019
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare released the 14th National Health Profile (NHP)2019 & its e-book (digital version). The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) and covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country. This 14th edition of NHP is the continuation of the publication since 2005.
Data is an important source of understanding the needs and issues of the population. It helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses and is also an important means to strategize area specific interventions. Good quality data enables the policymakers to make evidence-based policies and aids effective implementation of various schemes. Dr. Harsh Vardhan also suggested that this document should be highly disseminated, so that more and more people who want to develop health interventions or programs can utilize this data and come up with unique solutions and policy suggestions. HFM further said that the e-book of NHP-2019 is a step towards realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India, as digital documents give us an opportunity for wider dissemination of information.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health) stated that data is not only important for understanding the health indicators of the country, but it also provides an opportunity to monitor the situation. She said that the National Health Profile – 2019 indicates that significant progress has been made in the country for various health outcomes, which is an encouraging sign.
The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz. demographic indicators (population and vital statistics), socio-economic indicators (education, employment, housing and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-communicable diseases and RCH) etc. The health finance section provides an overview of health insurance and expenditure on health, both public and Out of Pocket Expenditure (OOP) etc. The section on human resources provides an overview of availability of manpower working in the health sector, while health infrastructure section provides details of Medical and Dental Colleges, AYUSH Institutes, Nursing Courses and Paramedical Courses etc.