Feeble growth in Maharashtra healthcare spend

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The share of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) allocated by Maharashtra government to healthcare has grown only marginally over the past few years, underlining how political regimes have failed to make it a priority.

Data fromthe NationalHealth Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India 2019-20 indicates Maharashtra’s spending on healthcare was barely 0.8% of its GSDP, a slight increase from the previous four-year Average of 0.7%. Data showed total healthcare expenditure was Rs 77,501 crore of which government’s contribution was just 27% (Rs 20,606 crore).

The state has done poorly compared to the national average, which showed an upward trend in government expenditure as a proportion of total Health expenditurefrom 29% in 2014-2015 to 41.4% in 2019-20. The Centre is spending 1.35% of the GDP on health.

The data shows that bigger states like Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat are all spending in the range of

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0.8-0.9% of their GDP on health, whereas smaller ones like Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim have managed to take it to around 1.2-1.4%. Northeastern statesMizoramand Arunachal Pradesh spend the most, almost 3.4% of their GSDP in health. Dr Abhay Shukla of the public health movement Jan Arogya Abhiyan said despite being ranked seventh on per capita income among states, Maharashtra is at the bottom in terms of state spending on healthcare. “Hence, the high degree of privatisation and out-of-pocket expenses remain, he said.

As per the NHA report, the state spent Rs 1,675 per capita on healthcare in 2019-20, only a slight increase from the Rs 1,120 spent in 2015-2016. By comparison, Himachal Pradesh spent Rs 3,829, Kerala Rs 2,590, Uttarakhand Rs 2,273 and Tamil Nadu Rs 2039.Biharand UP were among the poorest spenders, allocating Rs 701 and 951 per capita.