MUMBAI: Every fourth child in Maharashtra is malnourished and every second woman has anaemia. The much publicised state health insurance barely pays for 20% of the patient pool, and the state only allocates 4.1% of its budget to health — lower than 27 other states in the country — and has 32,000 vacancies in health and medical education departments.
These are some of the findings of a five-month-long campaign by the Jan Arogya Abhiyan, a network of health NGOs, since the death of 35 patients in a 48-hour span in the state-run hospital in Nanded in October 2023.
“Our report card of the state’s healthcare is a culmination of a five-month campaign that started after the Nanded tragedy. We held eight assemblies in different districts, including Nanded, Pune, Kolhapur and Satara, since the tragedy, and found major healthcare problems,” said Dr Abhay Shukla of the Jan Arogya Abhiyan (JAA).
On Saturday, the Abhiyan released the people’s health manifesto in Pune.
Among the 28 states in India, Maharashtra spends the least (only 4.1%) of its budget on health, said JAA officials. “Healthcare is a legal right of the people. It should be supported adequately,” said Dr Shukla.
However, the survey found that there is a shortage of essential medicines in government hospitals across the state. “The financial year has come to an end, but the department of health and medical education has spent only 7.5% of its budget on medicines,” show the findings. Privatisation of health services was blamed for people’s hardship in accessing care.
Of the patients currently being treated in hospitals in Maharashtra, only 20% are actually served by government insurance schemes, such as MJPJAY and PMJAY.
“The prevalence of malnutrition (low weight for height) among children in Maharashtra is 25.6% — highest among all states in the country. Anemia rate in women is 54%,” said the document.
Linked with this, key issues in the health manifesto were discussed with the representatives of various political parties, keeping in view the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha 2024 elections.
These are some of the findings of a five-month-long campaign by the Jan Arogya Abhiyan, a network of health NGOs, since the death of 35 patients in a 48-hour span in the state-run hospital in Nanded in October 2023.
“Our report card of the state’s healthcare is a culmination of a five-month campaign that started after the Nanded tragedy. We held eight assemblies in different districts, including Nanded, Pune, Kolhapur and Satara, since the tragedy, and found major healthcare problems,” said Dr Abhay Shukla of the Jan Arogya Abhiyan (JAA).
On Saturday, the Abhiyan released the people’s health manifesto in Pune.
Among the 28 states in India, Maharashtra spends the least (only 4.1%) of its budget on health, said JAA officials. “Healthcare is a legal right of the people. It should be supported adequately,” said Dr Shukla.
However, the survey found that there is a shortage of essential medicines in government hospitals across the state. “The financial year has come to an end, but the department of health and medical education has spent only 7.5% of its budget on medicines,” show the findings. Privatisation of health services was blamed for people’s hardship in accessing care.
Of the patients currently being treated in hospitals in Maharashtra, only 20% are actually served by government insurance schemes, such as MJPJAY and PMJAY.
“The prevalence of malnutrition (low weight for height) among children in Maharashtra is 25.6% — highest among all states in the country. Anemia rate in women is 54%,” said the document.
Linked with this, key issues in the health manifesto were discussed with the representatives of various political parties, keeping in view the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha 2024 elections.