Healthcare Disparities and E-Health Strategies in India: Report

This report examines the healthcare system in India, highlighting the pressures on the sector and the resulting disparities in patient outcomes due to a lack of healthcare equity. It explores strategies implemented by healthcare authorities to address these challenges, with a particular focus on the implementation of e-health facilities. The report provides an overview of India's healthcare expenditure, discusses strategies for improvement, analyzes findings, and offers recommendations for enhancing the efficiency of these strategies. It emphasizes the role of e-health initiatives, such as mobile applications and digital infrastructure, in improving healthcare access, particularly in rural areas. The report concludes with recommendations for increased government investment in digital healthcare infrastructure and e-health services to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030, focusing on bridging the equity gap and improving patient outcomes.

Running head: HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
Executive summary:
This report focusses on the pressure that has been observed in the healthcare sector of the India,
and the reduced patient outcomes, which is due to the lack of the healthcare equity in India. To
reduce the patient outcomes and to enhance the healthcare equity, different strategies have been
formulated by the health care authorities of the India. One of the strategies is the implementation
of the e-health facilities. This report includes the health care plan and expenditures of India,
strategies to improve, discussion of the findings and the recommendation to implement or
enhance the efficiency of the strategy.

2HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Strategies:........................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................4
Recommendations:..........................................................................................................................5
Reference:........................................................................................................................................7

3HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
Introduction:
The healthcare status of the India is mainly administered by the different sates of
the India. The constitution of the India has provided tasks to each and every state to provide
healthcare to the population of the particular state. By analyzing the healthcare facilities of the
India it can be stated that there are lack of medical facilities in the rural areas of the India. In
order to reduce the healthcare equity gap in India, the sustainable development goals has been
formulated. One of the SDG is to bridge the equity gap in access and availability of health
services (Assembly, 2015). The purpose of the report is to identify the key strategies that can be
used to reduce the healthcare gap by enhancing the healthcare access to the entire population by
reviewing and then analyzing the total expenditures on the health care in India. The essay
primarily focuses on the pressure that has been observed in the healthcare sector of the India, and
along with that healthcare reforms and the communication technology that is used to address this
pressure and aid to reduce the equity gap among the population by enhancing the access of the
healthcare services by the year 2030.
Strategies:
According to Mohfw.gov, (2019), the total expenditure of the India on the healthcare is
estimated to be around Rs. 5,28,484 crores which is around 3.84% of the total GDP and about
4116 of per capita.
Sustainable development goals are termed as the universal goals formulated by UNDP to
reduce poverty, healthcare gaps in order to provide standard living to the population of the
country (UNDP, 2019). India has also started to work towards the goals in order to reduce the

4HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
healthcare disparity and by enhance the equal distribution of the healthcare in India (Kumar,
Kumar & Vivekadhish, 2016). One of the key strategies to do that is to enable the eHealthcare
facilities in the south Asia including India. eHealth in India is not common unlike other
countries, however it can be considered as the one of the most effective strategy to improve the
healthcare quality in India and with the help of it, healthcare facilities can also reach to the
population who are living in the rural areas (Prabhakaran, Ajay & Tandon, 2019). In order to do
that the MoHFw has initiated different e-gov healthcare program which is broadly classified
under the information and communication technology in the healthcare sector (MOHFW, 2019).
This e-health initiative by the National e-Health authority has the vision to improve the delivery
of the health care to improve the health outcomes of the population with respect to, quality,
access, affordability, lowering the burden of the disease and the efficient monitoring of the health
entitlements to the citizens of the India (Patel et al., 2015). The primary aim of the e-health
initiatives is to make the healthcare facilities available for those who are not able to reach. It is
available through mobile services, SMS, web services or the call center services
Discussion:
From the above report it can be analyzed that according to the Nhp.gov.in, (2019), The
current healthcare expenditure of the union government towards the healthcare is around 38416
crores that is 7.8% of the total current healthcare expenditures, the state government spends
about 75785 crores that is 15.3%, local bodies share about 3808 crores that is 0.8% of the total
expenditure, the healthcare insurance providers shares about 23,691 crores, which is 4.8% of the
total healthcare expenditures, NGO shares 7,708 crores that is 1.6% of the total expenditure and
the external funding contributes 3,525 crores and 0.7% of the total current health expenditures.
The largest part of the contribution is from the house hold shares which is around 69% of the

5HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
total, this share is termed as the out of the pocket expenditures, which is directly contributed by
the household shares at the time of receiving healthcare (Nhp.gov.in, 2019). Hence, the largest
share is paid by the house hold which increases the healthcare access gap.
To reduce that, the government of India should contribute more to the healthcare services
and should focus on providing e-healthcare services to the broad range of the population. In
order to provide the e-healthcare facilities, the government should spend on the digital
infrastructure in order to support the healthcare. The digital infrastructure can be expanded by
building more digital hospitals and the digitals infrastructure in the community in the rural areas.
The healthcare insurance should also be provided digitally in order to provide health insurance
coverage to the population who are deprived of such facility (IBEF, 2019).
In order to do that, the union government as well as the stare governed will have to spend
more on the digital healthcare facilities. The expenditures of the union government on the
healthcare should be increased from 7.8% to the minimum of 20% and the share of the local
government should increase from 15.3% to 35%. To meet the supply needs in the future, the
government should save for the future.
Recommendations:
By observing the healthcare structure in India, I would recommend the government to
focus on the digital infrastructure in the healthcare sector in India. E-health will help to enhance
the healthcare access among the population and will also aid to bridge the equity gap. There are
several strategies to implement the digital strategies which include mobile applications, wearable
and others. However, I would recommend implementing the mobile applications so that a large
population can access it just by installing an app.

6HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
To implement, the e-health care facilities, the government has to pay around 10,000
crores. It will benefit the individual from the poor background status and the rural areas to get the
healthcare facilities; it will help in improving the patient outcomes. On the long term it will
reduce the healthcare disparity, enhances the patient health outcome by improving the healthcare
equity, which is amongst the goals of the total sustainable development goals. Hence, by the
implementation of the e-health facilities, the sustainable development goals were achieved by the
year 2030.

7HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
Reference:
Assembly, G. (2015). sustainable Development goals. SDGs), Transforming our world: the,
2030.
IBEF. (2019). Healthcare Industry in India, Indian Healthcare Sector, Services. Retrieved 30
August 2019, from https://www.ibef.org/industry/healthcare-india.aspx
Kumar, S., Kumar, N., & Vivekadhish, S. (2016). Millennium development goals (MDGS) to
sustainable development goals (SDGS): Addressing unfinished agenda and strengthening
sustainable development and partnership. Indian journal of community medicine: official
publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, 41(1), 1.
Mohfw.gov.in. (2019). e-Health & Telemedicine | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare | GOI.
Retrieved 30 August 2019, from https://mohfw.gov.in/about-us/departments/departments-
health-and-family-welfare/e-Health%20%26%20Telemedicine
Nhp.gov.in. (2019). E-Health Initiatives from States across India | National Health Portal of
India. Retrieved 30 August 2019, from https://www.nhp.gov.in/e-
health_initiatives_from_states_across_india_mtl
Patel, V., Parikh, R., Nandraj, S., Balasubramaniam, P., Narayan, K., Paul, V. K., ... & Reddy, K.
S. (2015). Assuring health coverage for all in India. The Lancet, 386(10011), 2422-2435.
Prabhakaran, D., Ajay, V. S., & Tandon, N. (2019). Strategic Opportunities for Leveraging Low-
cost, High-impact Technological Innovations to Promote Cardiovascular Health in India.
Ethnicity & disease, 29(Suppl 1), 145-152.

8HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEM
UNDP. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved 30 August 2019, from
http://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/post-2015/sdg-overview.html