Today is the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is observed annually since 2017 on December 12 to remind people that good health is a necessity and everyone irrespective of their economic and social status should have access to quality healthcare. The pandemic made the world realize that as far as health is concerned, working in silos is no longer a sustainable option. The clarion call for ensuring UHC thus is a rallying point to make nations and governments make smarter investments in health and remind the world about the imperative need of UHC.
The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution on UHC on December 12, 2012 and urged the member nations to ensure and accelerate the growth towards affordable, accessible and quality healthcare for all.
With the launch of the Ayushman Bharat the government has already taken the much - needed step towards UHC in 2018, further improvements like Ayushman Digital Mission and PM Ayushman
Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission are ensuring that digital
technology makes health infrastructure accessible and gaps in health care are recognized and addressed respectively. No doubt the
transformation of 1.5 lakh sub centres and primary health centres
to ‘Health & Wellness Centres’ will provide an enormous boost to
health infrastructure. Palliative care must be part of Ayushman
Bharat.
Private sector is a major stakeholder in the healthcare sector, as its collaboration with the government can be a game changer. Private sector players offer great potential in addressing the gaps and
barriers in healthcare right from creating a skilled healthcare
workforce to providing innovative solutions to healthcare. Pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, digital health IT,
insurance, health analytics, civil society, NGOs and education
technology organisations could work hand-in-hand with the
government to bridge the current gap of workforce availability and capacity building.
The concept of UHC encompasses that all citizens are entitled to quality health care from prevention to promotion, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation – without the strain of economic hardship. The concept has three important cornerstones: access, quality, and financial protection and, not surprisingly, the private sector forms an important chunk of all three of them. Fruitful partnerships with all relevant stakeholders are the way forward that can keep check on ‘Out-of-Pocket’ expenses (OOP) and drive families out of this vicious circle of poverty and dearth. In the Indian context, the maximum OOP is spent on out-patient consultations as well as screenings and diagnostic tests, hence the focus of PMJAY needs to shift from in-patient care and hospitalisation towards out-patient care, to bring down catastrophic health expenditure. This will also ensure the much- needed shift from curative healthcare to a preventive one as well as early detection of many NCD’s.
In keeping with the theme of Universal Health Coverage Day this year “Build the world we want: A healthy future for all” and enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, UHC includes a full range of
essential health services from health promotion and awareness to
prevention, and treatment. The very essence of the concept depends on leaving no one behind as non - availability of quality healthcare
anywhere is a threat to human health everywhere, as seen during the pandemic.
The economic and social repercussions of UHC can go a long way in tackling the issues of human rights, economic development and empowering the population, at large. The attainment of all other SDGs is invariably linked to UHC and the long term and sustainable progress of any nation is hugely dependent on the health and wellbeing of its citizens, the path to which is linked to the realization of UHC.
(The author is CEO, IHW Council)
