With health failing to emerge as an election issue despite overwhelming concerns over the quality of its delivery system, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Friday stressed that it was high time that it (health) should be a major political agenda and debated at various forums.
“I think unless health takes off in a big way, on to a political agenda, to political manifesto and people starts demanding health to be the first major issue to be discussed, then we can hope to see a big positive change in the health sector,” Swaminathan said here delivering the 25th Rosalind Wilson Memorial lecture 2017.
Speaking on the topic, “Achieving the Health 2030 Goals: What will it take IJ”, the Secretary of Department of Health Research under the Health Ministry, spoke on a range of issues confronting the health sector such as shortage of human resources, infrastructure and lack of public awareness besides poor sanitation and disease burden in the country.
Stating that health cuts across all the ministries whether health, transport, housing or environment , she said, “I think that the realisation has now come, that many ministries are now looking at promoting positive health policies.
She rued that despite India being top exporter of medicine in the world, drugs were unaffordable to a large chunk of people in the country. “Also we are too much dependent on China for import of bulk drugs. It’s time that we ensure domestic production.”
Swaminathan also highlighted that currently more than half of India’s rural population is using private healthcare, which is four times as costly as public healthcare, and can cost the poorest 20 per cent of Indians more than 15 times their average monthly expenditure.
Earlier, former Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee, who chaired the event paid rich tributes to Rosalind Wilson, a British expatriate who taught at Springdales School and later became editor of the famous children magazine, Target. She died of cancer in 1992.
Swaminathan also shared a beautiful audio video presentation of the collective reflections of Wilsons work in various fields in the presence of the Springdale School children, who came to pay tribute to Wilson.