Increase the number of hospital beds, health sector experts tell FM in pre-budget consultation

AExperts from the health and education sectors urged the government to increase the number of hospital beds and create awareness around the National Education Policy in their pre-budget consultations with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.

Health experts suggested ways to improve the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme so that the poor can access quality healthcare at lower prices, apart from issues focussing on social sector welfare, women and children, two  people who attended the meeting said.

Ayushman Bharat aims to cover over 100 million poor and vulnerable families, or around 500 million individuals, providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.\

Should have at least 3.5 beds for every thousand: WHO

"We have less than two (hospital) beds for every thousand people. The WHO says we should have at least 3.5 beds for every thousand people. There is also a huge disparity between the density of beds across states. For instance, Karnataka has four beds for every thousand people, but Bihar has only 0.3. The government will have to review the healthcare policy in states," said Girdhar Gyani, director general at the Association of Healthcare Providers of India.

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Experts also suggested forming a separate cell for creating awareness around the National Education Policy.

"States need to be made more aware of the purpose of the National Education Policy. A separate cell could be formed (in this regard)," said Anant Pandhare, a trustee, Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan.

"The government is very keen on pushing schemes for the poor, like tackling malnutrition and strengthening ASHA workers. The government noted down a suggestion about tackling juvenile diabetes and congenital diabetes," Pandhare added.

The new education policy, approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2020, proposes several reforms, including funding for private sector research, structural changes in school education, the establishment of a national research foundation, integration of vocational education and coding from upper primary schools, among others.

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It is the third national education policy since India's independence.

Prominent experts who attended the consultation on Thursday included Arvinder J Singh (Ashoka University), Ajit Ranade (Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics), Rukmini Banerjee (Pratham Education Foundation), Reddy Subrahmanyam, former secretary, higher education and social justice, among others.

Senior finance ministry officials present at Thursday's meetings included Ajay Seth, secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, and the government's chief economic advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran, finance secretary TV Somanathan.

The finance minister has already met economists, representatives of industry, capital markets and financial sector, farmers' associations, MSMEs, leaders from the trade and services industry, employment and skilling sectors.

Sitharaman will meet experts from the infrastructure, energy and urban sectors on Saturday.