Dr. NK Venkataramana, Founder Chairman & Director, Brains Super Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru.

Budget allocation for health has never been a priority to many governments as it is considered as an expense. Unfortunately even people’s mind set also echoes similar views, till they fall ill. In reality any investment on health is not a waste. Health is an important basic requirement for productivity which in turn decides the GDP of the state or the country. Productivity that is directly related to man hours obviously is dictated by the efficiency and health. But in reality it appears as a secondary benefit making every one hesitant on the spend related to preventive and treatment related expenditure.

Actually the pandemic has awakened all of us highlighted need for a strong health care system, resources and preparedness. In this regard even the most developed countries have faced sufficient challenges. But at least the importance of health care sector got highlighted. Fortunately this year’s state budget has become 4% for health, which is to be appreciated.

However the planning of building the health care and its delivery system has to be carefully planned both for the individual states as well as for the entire country. Generally most of it is spent on the new buildings and infrastructure. As a result there will be a huge deficit in equipping them and maintaining them. Even the man power requirement is huge as it demands certain skill sets and commitment all the time. As a result there are many components of health care that needs attention in planning and allocating the budget. Maintaining the establishments that exist already itself is huge challenge. Upgrade in terms of technology, skill sets, manpower is imperative as the innovation and newer developments are constantly happening in field of medicine.

The research and innovation is constantly dislodging the previous gadgets and also practices. So to be in the forefront one must focus on upgrade as well as training. Otherwise health care system can get out dated in no time. If not updated the system will remain lagging all the time and perpetually backward. Therefore meticulous planning and allocation and investing in technology, training and manpower properly can help the health care stabilise and even grow steadily. If not we will remain behind all the time. The scalability of the health care delivery system is also equally important especially for a country like ours with constantly growing population. The health indices of the country have to be kept in mind so that we can achieve the targets gradually keeping pace with the other developed countries.