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Bharat Chikitsa Puraskar
Bharat Chikitsa Puraskar
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The government of India has a Twelfth Plan to expand the National Rural Health Mission to the entire country, known as the National Health Mission. Community based health insurance can assist in providing services to areas with disadvantaged populations. Additionally, it can help to emphasize the responsibility of the local government in making resources available. Furthermore, according to the Indian Journal of Community Medicine (IJOCM) the government should reform health insurance as well as its reach in India. The journal states that universal health care should slowly yet steadily be expanded to the entire population. Healthcare should be mandatory and no money should be exchanged at appointments. Finally, both private and public sectors should be involved to ensure all marginalized areas are reached. According to the IJOCM, this will increase access for the poor.
To counteract the issue of a lack of professionals in rural areas, the government of India wants to create a 'cadre' of rural doctors through governmental organizations. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in April 2005 by the Government of India. The NRHM has outreach strategies for disadvantaged societies in isolated areas. The goal of the NRHM is to provide effective healthcare to rural people with a focus on 18 states with poor public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. NRHM has 18,000 ambulances and a workforce of 900,000 community health volunteers and 178,000 paid staff. The mission proposes creating a course for medical students that is centered around rural healthcare. Furthermore, NRHM wants to create a compulsory rural service for younger doctors in the hopes that they will remain in rural areas. However, the NRHM has failings. For example, even with the mission, most construction of health related infrastructure occurs in urban cities. Many scholars call for a new approach that is local and specialized to each state's rural areas. Other regional programs such as the Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance Scheme in Andhra Pradesh, India have also been implemented by state governments to assist rural populations in healthcare accessibility, but the success of these programs (without other supplemental interventions at the health system level) has been limited.
The National Urban Health Mission as a sub-mission of National Health Mission was approved by the cabinet on 1 May 2013. The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) works in 779 cities and towns with populations of 50,000 each. As urban health professionals are often specialized, current urban healthcare consists of secondary and tertiary, but not primary care. Thus, the mission focuses on expanding primary health services to the urban poor. The initiative recognizes that urban healthcare is lacking due to overpopulation, exclusion of populations, lack of information on health and economic ability, and unorganized health services. Thus, NUHM has appointed three tiers that need improvement: Community level (including outreach programs), Urban Health Center level (including infrastructure and improving existing health systems), and Secondary/Tertiary level (Public-Private Partnerships). Furthermore, the initiative aims to have one Urban Public Health Center for each population of 50,000 and aims to fix current facilities and create new ones. It plans for small municipal governments to take responsibility for planning healthcare facilities that are prioritized towards the urban poor, including unregistered slums and other groups. Additionally, NUHM aims to improve sanitation and drinking water, improve community outreach programs to further access, reduce out-of-pocket expenses for treatment, and initiate monthly health and nutrition days to improve community health.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JE) is an initiative to ensure health coverage for the poor and weaker population in India. This initiative is part of the government's view to ensure that its citizens - particularly poor and weaker groups, have access to healthcare and good quality hospital services without facing financial difficulty. PM-JAY Provides insurance cover up to Rs 5 lakh per annum to the 100 million families in India for secondary and tertiary hospitalization. For transparency, the government made an online portal (Mera PmJay) to check eligibility for PMJAY. Health care service includes follow-up care, daycare surgeries, pre and post hospitalization, hospitalization expenses, expense benefits and newborn child/children services. The comprehensive list of services is available on the website.
One initiative adapted by governments of many states in India to improve access to healthcare entails a combination of public and private sectors. The Public-Private Partnership Initiative (PPP) was created in the hopes of reaching the health-related Millennium Development Goals. In terms of prominence, nearly every new state health initiative includes policies that allow for the involvement of private entities or non-governmental organizations.
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