cover story
the communication between the important stakeholders .
The central government has launched the Jan Aushadhi Scheme to make available generic medicines at affordable prices to all through Jan Aushadhi Stores ( JAS ). While focus on generic drugs , a huge populist measure by the government seems to be well received , it now demands scaling up of the project . Since the public health has been a state subject in India , the union government has maintained that under the National Health Mission ( NHM ), it gives an incentive of upto 5 percent additional funding to those states that implement policy and systems for free essential drugs ( in generic form ) to all those who access public health facilities .
To provide relief against catastrophic heath expenditure , the government has announced the launch of a new health protection scheme which will provide cover upto Rs 1 lakh with additional top up of Rs 30,000 for senior citizens in those families .
Yet despite a number of good steps , there are few issues of priority that have to be catered to on time . The promise of universal health scheme is yet to be realized but the government still has three years to go . While the ministers are tight lipped about its possibility as of now , there have been quite a number of suggestions including the one that a contribution of Re 1 should be taken from all the Indians to create a fund to drive it . Well we leave the nitty gritties to the economists .
There is hardly anybody who can deny that the primary healthcare in rural areas is still in shambles . While the union government has taken few steps but it has laid more onus on state governments . Health Minister , Mr J P Nadda says that to address health inequities , 184 high priority districts have been identified for
enhanced fund allocation and focused attention .
One of the key challenges India is facing today are : low public spend on health , a disease-centric approach over patient-centric approach , and a method of treatment that focuses on curative care rather than preventive care . If the government makes a policy shift to preventive care , longterm impact of diseases such as diabetes , cardiovascular disease and cancer can be checked at the primary stage of onset by ensuring timely diagnosis of patients .
As per Prof Vivekanand Jha , Executive Director , The George Institute for Global Health , “ Healthcare related issue do not find resonance in public conversation and debate . A few important issues are to try and find evidence-based models of innovate health care delivery , generation of data around the healthcare burden in India , development of innovative financing models , insurance reforms to prioritize disease prevention and legislative solutions .”
Over the next 10 years , one area where India has the potential to make a real global impact is in reverse innovation : bringing technologies
that are developed for resourceconstrained or remote healthcare settings in India to the rest of the world . An example of this is the development of portable ultrasounds in India , now used internationally .
The absence of a separate regulatory framework is one of the biggest challenges facing the medical technology industry in India . Presently , medical devices are governed by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act , 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules , 1945 . The current regulatory structure has its own barriers and limitations such as complex rules and guidelines , high capital investment , lack of active participation from the government and low penetration .
The industry associations in India have been asking for the department for medical devices , a separate ministry for healthcare products to act as facilitator and regulator and coordinated plan between central government and state governments to aid existing manufacturing clusters and new medical device parks . Creating a separate regulatory framework for medical devices will be the first step in addressing the needs of the med-tech sector .
20
BioVoiceNews | June 2016
cover story
the communication between the
important stakeholders.
The central government has launched
the Jan Aushadhi Scheme to make
available generic medicines at
affordable prices to all through Jan
Aushadhi Stores (JAS).While focus
on generic drugs, a huge populist
measure by the government seems to
be well received, it now demands
scaling up of the project. Since the
public health has been a state subject
in India, the union government has
maintained that under the National
Health Mission (NHM), it gives an
incentive of upto 5 percent
additional funding to those states
that implement policy and systems
for free essential drugs (in generic
form) to all those who access public
health facilities.
To provide relief against catastrophic
heath expenditure, the government
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