Failed government policies

30/07/2000
Down To Earth

Health does not seem to be the priority area for the government. The World Health Report 2000 claimed that while only 1 per cent of India's gross domestic produce ( gdp ) is being used in the field of health care, three times this amount is being used for defence. There are plans to increase healthcare spending to five per cent but this would still be less than what a developed country like the us is spending on health. Though money is not the only criterion for making a country healthy, misplaced priorities are not likely to help.

Eradication of tuberculosis ( tb ) from India is a lost cause. Even after 40 years of existence of the National Tuberculosis Programme, this disease remains one of the nation's top killer disease claiming nearly 4.2 lakh lives every year. Nearly three lakh children drop out of school and one lakh women are abandoned every year due to tb. The link between tb and aids has made the disease even more deadly. According to the Bihar government, the tb control programme, which began in 1962, is a complete failure and has in fact made the situation worse by creating a large number of drug resistant patients. The World Bank aided Leprosy Eradication Programme in Bihar, which has 25 per cent of the country's leprosy patients, has also failed to deliver. Lack of infrastructure and failure of the government to hire a sufficient number of health workers has deprived the patients of benefits from the programme.

Even the Pulse polio programme has not succeeded with the ministry quietly extending the deadline for complete eradication to 2005. The programme started in 1977. But even after 23 years, India remains one of the top three countries to be affected by the disease. According to the officials, the policy failed as the whole country was not covered and there was a lack of follow-ups. The officials suggested that there should be better co-ordination between the neighbouring countries.

Even after extensive programmes to enhance the health of mother and child, India accounts for 40 per cent of the malnourished children in the world with a estimated loss in the range of $10-28 billion due to lost productivity, illness and death. There is also an increase in the infant mortality rates and even socially active states like Kerala seem to have failed here. Providing better nutrition is the need of the hour as malnutrition is so high that the 60 per cent of the babies would have been put into intensive care units had they been born in a developed country like the us.

Some projects like the Integrated Disease Project are being run year after year without scrutiny. Even this year, the ministry has released nearly 50 per cent of its funds to Indian Council for Medical Research without waiting for endorsement by the Scientific Advisory Board.

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