Role of Health Financing in Provision of Health Care and Universal Health Coverage in India

Abstract

Financing is an important aspect of any program for successful transformation. Financial commitment of government is considered to be the highest form of commitment for successful work. Without budgetary provision, no program can achieve the desired target. The role of health financing of central government, international donor agencies, provincial government, and local bodies have been identified. The paper focused on monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for health financing in the context of recent developments. Health financing models have been discussed to gain an understanding about relation of financing and overall healthcare development. The search engines like PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and jstor (journal storage) were consulted to unearth the mechanism of health finances for development of good health. The paper put forth various themes and sub-themes according to financial implications on health structure of India. All healthcare programs need a continuous stream of resources like medicine, workforce, physical infrastructure, monitoring, and evaluation to achieve good health. Whereas, different stakeholders also need financial support to evolve with great vigour and vivacity. There is a pressing need to infuse financial resources into public health system for achievement of universal health care rather than incremental growth in traditional financial processes spreading over several decades. The specific roles and responsibilities of central, provincial, local governments and international donors have to be delineated to expedite resource mobilisation. However, while implementing programs, there should be coordination among all the stakeholders.

Health Sector Development in India: An Account from Bhore Committee 1946 to National Health Policy 2017

“…Over time, governments also develop policies, proposals, and ground-level implementation plans to enhance the delivery of health services (Rao, 2016; Reddy, 2019). However, meager budgetary provisions and a lack of hard and soft healthcare infrastructure never help pave the way for the achievement of goals in the health sector (Dehury et al, 2020; Park, 2005). The government in India is crippled with a lack of human resources, especially doctors and paramedics, a lack of affordable medicines, a shortage of infrastructure, non-availability of timely financial resources, unavailability of modern technology, and a lack of stewardship in the health sector (Dehury et al, 2020; Reddy, 2019).…”

“…However, meager budgetary provisions and a lack of hard and soft healthcare infrastructure never help pave the way for the achievement of goals in the health sector (Dehury et al, 2020; Park, 2005). The government in India is crippled with a lack of human resources, especially doctors and paramedics, a lack of affordable medicines, a shortage of infrastructure, non-availability of timely financial resources, unavailability of modern technology, and a lack of stewardship in the health sector (Dehury et al, 2020; Reddy, 2019). All these things make India’s health sector one of the weakest in the world, for providing essential healthcare services for millions concerned.…”

“…The elected governments usually come and go, but the guiding vision of health policy would help maintain the health and wellbeing of the population. The strategic decisions should be robust enough to curb the existing challenges in the health sector and help in the near future, based on forecasting and evidence of the health sector (Dehury et al, 2020; Rao, 2016).…”

“…The health policy’s ownership should be deeply entrenched in the micro-level healthcare issues, which can only be possible through widespread discussion among various stakeholders (Dehury et al, 2020; Park, 2005). Expert consultations and the need of the people should gather the evidence to generate sufficient steam to achieve the targets.…”

“…Historical evidence and discussions often help gather a unique way of looking at things. The lesson from failure and success would help devise tailor-made plans for the health and human services of the Indians (Dehury et al, 2020; Rao, 2016).…”