REGULATOR WITH MUSCULAR POWER CALLED FOR IN THE HEALTH SECTOR: DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH SERVICES

STRENGTHENING PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE SUGGESTS TO THE NITI AAYOG

A strong regulator with muscular power is needed for delivering health services to all the citizens particularly to the vulnerable sections of the society of the country which should insist on all the corporate hospitals to follow the clinical and treatment guidelines as per the Act, said Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Jagdish Prasad.

He further said that the NITI Aayog should work on strengthening the public health infrastructure before giving health insurance to 40 crore people and suggested that once the public healthcare is strengthened and reliable, the health delivery to the poorer of the poorest would improve and would be preferred to health insurance.

Addressing a Seminar on ‘Best Practices in Health Insurance – Strategies & Accountability’ under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Dr. Prasad said that government has also yet to work out how to provide the low cost insurance to 40 crore citizens as announced and adding that only close monitoring of expenses and claims of the patients coming through hospitals would allow effective healthcare delivery.  He pointed out that there is no checks and balances which is the biggest drawback.

According to him, “insurance business has to monitor and follow the clinical guidelines and if not so, it will be the biggest failure.  Centre can make the guidelines and procedures only but for proper implementation, it is the states’ responsibility to fulfil the intended objectives of the union government and make sure that this facility reaches out to all stakeholders of the society such as farmers, vegetable sellers, rickshaw pullers and the likes under the National Health Policy”.

“Due to lack of proper regulation and monitoring mechanism in place, we pay huge amount from the kitty of CGHS to the corporate hospitals and spend thousands of thousands due to weak public health infrastructure” he added.

In his welcome remarks, Chairman, Business Practices & Excellence Awards Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Sanjay Bhatia said that health insurance industry can grow at much higher rate if best practises are adopted in terms of honesty, fairness and transparency which can be achieved by using technology and improving skill as well as change in attitude for providing satisfaction to patients.  He also stated that there was a need to work on the mutual mistrst amongst all the stakeholders of healthcare delivery and insurance.

In his theme Address, Co-Chairman, Insurance Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. S K Sethi that health insurance is the second largest sector within general insurance with a  recorded premium of Rs.30,764 crore in 2016-17 which was 24.1% of the overall general insurance market.

Among others who spoke on the occasion comprised Principal Advisor, Indian Medical Association, D N V Kamat; People’s Health Movement India, Dr. Mira Shiva; Senior Associate Editor-Consumer and Personal Finance, TV Today Network, Ms. Teena Jain Kaushal; Executive Vice President, Health Underwriting & Claims, IFFCO TOKIO, Mr. Abhijit Chatterjee; Professor & Chairperson – Centre for Insurance & Risk Management, BIMTECH, Dr. Abhijit K Chhatoraj; AGM Finance, Max Healthcare, Mr. Rahul Durani and  Principal Director, PHD Chamber, Mr. Vivek Seigell.