Indian government commits to increasing public health spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025—but is that enough?

^{(Image Credit- IANS)}

• The Indian government has reiterated its plan to increase its public health spending, with PM Narendra Modi promising to spend up to $100 billion.
  
• As of now, the country spends 1.16% of GDP in public health.
  
• Indian policymakers have faced criticism about its low public health spending.

The Indian government has reiterated its plan to increase its public health spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, with PM Narendra Modi promising to spend up to $100 billion, Live Mint reported citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The government is working towards increasing India’s health spending to over $100 billion, said PM Narendra Modi while address the Partners’ Forum meet, according to the media reports.

While the government has been promising to boost its expenditure in public health sector since last year, India’s expenditure is less than most of the low-income countries, said First Post.

In fact, India’s neighboring country, Sri Lanka, spends four times the per capita expenditure of India on health. The proportion of health spent by Bhutan on public health is 2.9%, while the Maldives sheds as much as 9.4% of GDP on healthcare.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that India is also inching closure its target of reducing the mortality rate for women and children. It is on the road to achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) targets for maternal and child health.

Speaking about the high cost spent by families to avail medical facility, The Prime Minister emphasized on ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’ which aims to provide comprehensive primary care. It also promotes a healthy lifestyle and yoga through health and wellness centers, according to the report.