In an interview to Mint last month, Esther Duflo, one of the world’s leading development economists, said, “I feel a deep sense of crisis when I think about education and health, especially for the poor. These concerns are not shared widely enough at any level of government and that’s unfortunate.”
Dulfo’s concerns seem to be completely justified when one looks at health-related statistics in India.
World Bank data shows that public health expenditure in India is abysmally low at 1.4% of GDP as of 2014, compared to a world average of 6%. This is much higher for Brazil at 3.8%, Russian Federation at 3.7% and China at 3.1%, among others. In fact, in 2014-15, the healthcare budget was further slashed by nearly 20% due to fiscal strains. According to the 2015-16 Economic Survey released by the ministry of finance, combined health expenditure by the Central and state governments was just 1.3% of GDP for that year.
