Notwithstanding the Haryana Government’s claims on improving the public healthcare system, the State populace overwhelmingly prefers private healthcare institutions.
The use of public health care facilities for treatment of ailment is lowest in the rural areas of Haryana in the country, says the latest report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on “Health in India”.
The data shows that only 11 per cent people in rural and 8 per cent in urban Haryana availed treatment for an ailment at Government medical institutions. Use of public health care facilities for treatment of ailment was lowest in the rural areas of Haryana preceded by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the country, the survey stated.
Pointing out the dependence of Haryana populace on private medical institutions, where treatment cost is substantially higher, the survey stated that the percentage of hospitalised treatments received from public sector hospitals stood at 18.3 per cent in Haryana while it was 81.7 per cent for private hospitals.
Similarly in case of rural areas, the percentage stood at 66.7 per cent for private hospitals and 33.3 per cent for public hospitals.
Not only this, 57 per cent childbirth in urban areas and 39 per cent childbirth in rural took place in private hospitals in Haryana, said the survey.
It also pointed out that the average expenditure in both rural and urban Haryana was more than all-India average on account of hospitalisation during 365 days. While it was Rs 20,945 for rural against all-India average of Rs 16,956, in urban areas, it was Rs 35,217 in Haryana against all-India average of Rs 26,455.
The acute shortage of manpower in district hospitals, sub divisional hospitals, primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres and sub health centres in Haryana is seen as a major reason for privatisation of basic health care facilities in the State.
Notably, State Health Minister Anil Vij had during the recent State Assembly Session admitted that there is an acute shortage of doctors in the State. He had also informed that the State Government has decided to depute one medical officer, one Ayurvedic medical officer and one dental doctor in all PHCs in rural areas of the State to deal with this problem.
The State Government has also planned to get conducted a survey of all 3,292 health institutions to check the condition of buildings and availability of medical and para-medical staff in these institutions.
The Health Minister had also informed that the Government is planning to open a medical college in each district to deal with the shortage of doctors in various health institutions.
The district-level households and facility survey-4 (DlHS-4) had also pointed out acute shortage of health workers in the State PHCs, CHCs, SHDs and sub-divisional centres in Haryana.