Poor Performance by Public Health Department Reveals Social Organisation Survey

Pune: While the state government is pushing for reforms in the department of public health, it does not appear to be the case in practice.

The performance of the state's Public Health Department was evaluated on 10 criteria such as health budget, manpower, drug supply system, regulation of private hospitals. It was found that the health department failed in performance by scoring only 23 out of 100 marks.

In Maharashtra, only 4.2 per cent of the total state budget has been allocated for healthcare. The state ranks second in the country in this regard.

The number of employees in healthcare is inadequate and a heavy burden has been placed on contract workers. The number of specialist doctors in rural hospitals is as high as 61 per cent. Spending on urban healthcare centres is extremely low, accounting for only two per cent of the budgetary amount.

There is a deteriorating system of drug supply. Only 6 per cent of the cost has been spent on medicines. Public health resources and healthcare are being delegated to private institutions and companies. E.g. A tender of about Rs 8,000 crore was approved for external contracting of statewide ambulance services.

Only 20 per cent of the benefits were received from Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Most of the time, patients have to pay.

Private hospitals are not regulated. Legally necessary provisions to support patients are not being properly implemented. Women's health care has been neglected, and anemia and childbirth problems persist.

Maharashtra ranks second among all states in the country in terms of malnutrition. Also, information regarding the number of various health facilities, services, medicines and staff details is not publicly available on the website.

Meanwhile, the survey was done by Dr. Anant Phadke; Dr. Arun Gadre; Kishore Khilare, Kajal Jain, Ranjana Kanhere, Dr. Dr. Satish Gogulwar; Suhas Kolhekar, Deepak Jadhav, Girish Bhave, Dr. Swati Rane and others were among them.

These widespread and important flaws on all health fronts require an urgent policy change in Maharashtra's health sector. Provide quality healthcare, implement the Right to Health Act for Maharashtra and increase health funding by at least 8 per cent in the state budget.

An effective and transparent drug procurement system should be set up on the lines of Tamil Nadu. The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan demanded transparency of rates and implementation of patients' rights in private healthcare.