Minimizing out-of-pocket health expenditure for India's poor

India allocates just 0.1 percent of GDP on publicly funded drugs and medicines — a catastrophe for the country's vast poor population, argues Sachi Satapathy, a technical officer at The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, in this guest column.

By Sachi Satapathy // 26 February 2016

The recent adoption of Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations endorsed an earlier agreement on a resolution passed on Dec. 12, 2012, which emphasizes all member states ensure access to health care facilities for all citizens.

This resolution assumes significance for two main reasons: First, there are close to 150 million people globally who face financial hardship every year because of medical expenses. Secondly, about a quarter of these families in low- and middle-income nations have to borrow money or sell property to support their health care requirements.

These reasons warrant serious attention from global health leaders to come up with a viable option to develop mechanisms that will exempt the poor from payments and provide them both health and financial protection.

The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

About the author

Sachi Satapathy
Sachi Satapathy is an international development practitioner specialized in program management, policy development, strategic communications and advocacy and worked on large scale projects with bilateral and multilateral agencies. His interests are in public health, poverty alleviation and in public-private partnerships for health and development in lower, middle income and developing countries.