The National Health Profile 2015

The National Health Profile 2015 prepared by the Central Bureau for Health Intelligence (CBHI) has revealed some disturbing facts about India’s healthcare sector. It shows the poor patient to bed ratio and poor doctor to patient ratio - there is only one bed for over 1800 people and only one doctor caring for 11,000 people in Indian government hospitals. The government's expenditure on healthcare continues to dwindle and India spends less than 1% of its GDP on the health sector. Healthcare expenditure account for a large portion of household expenditure on account of rising cost of medicines and hospitalisation. This will result in the perpetuation of poverty, which will feed to the growing cost of healthcare, thus forming a vicious circle. Against this background, reform of the healthcare sector becomes imminent.