New Delhi: The share of government health expenditure (GHE) in India’s total gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 1.13 percent in 2014-15 to 1.84 percent in 2021-22, according to the latest National Health Accounts estimates released by the Union health ministry Wednesday.
The report also showed that the share of GHE in the country’s total health expenditure grew from 29 percent to 48 percent during the same period.
National Health Accounts estimates are a tool to describe health expenditures and the flow of funds in both the public and private sectors of the country.
Importantly, according to the report, the share of out-of-pocket expenditure in total health expenditure declined from 64.2 percent in 2013-14 to 39.4 percent in 2021-22.
Dr V.K. Paul, member (health) of the government’s top think tank NITI Aayog, called it a “very positive indicator”, according to a statement by the health ministry.
Dr Paul attributed this to the Centre’s flagship schemes, such as the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, which offers health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh to eligible families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation, along with a free dialysis programme.
Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra also noted, “A substantial increase has been noticed in the health expenditure of the government, while the out-of-pocket expenditure has come down which is a good sign.”
He highlighted that the total health expenditure has also seen significant growth, which reflects government’s focus towards health.
For the year 2021-22, the total health expenditure for India is estimated to be Rs 9,04,461 crore (3.83 percent of GDP and Rs 6,602 per capita).
Also, while Centre’s share in GHE was about 41.8 percent, that of state governments stood at about 58.2 percent.
Overall the estimates for 2021-22 showed that in terms of share in the general government expenditure (GGE), the government’s spending on health has risen from 3.94 percent in 2014-15 to 6.12 percent in 2021-22.
In per capita terms, on the other hand, GHE has tripled—from Rs 1,108 to Rs 3,169 between 2014-15 to 2021-22.
Also, government spending on health between 2019-20 and 2020-21 increased by 16.6 percent, while between 2020-21 and 2021-22, it grew by a significant rate of 37 percent, largely on account of the expenditure incurred towards tackling the COVID-19 pandemic with measures like vaccination.
In the total health expenditure of the country between 2014-15 and 2021-22, the share of GHE increased from 29 percent to 48 percent.
Additionally, the estimates for 2021-22 show that households’ out-of-pocket expenditure on health (OOPE) stood at Rs 3,56,254 crores (39.4 percent of total health expenditure, or 1.51 percent of GDP), which came out to Rs 2,600 per capita.