NITI Aayog released a report on “Health Systems for a New India

NITI Aayog released a report on “Health Systems for a New India"

Government think tank Niti Aayog released a report ‘Health Systems for a New India: Building Blocks-Potential Pathways to Reforms,’ on 18th November 2019 in New Delhi.

Key Points:

• The report, synthesis of one-year-long exercise, was released by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar in the presence of co-founder of Microsoft and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
• The report identified five focus areas of the future health system which would help in delivering on unfinished public health agenda, change health financing away from out of pocket so spend into large insurers, integrate service delivery vertically and horizontally, empower citizens to become better buyers of health, harness the power of digital health.
• Niti Aayog recommended that the health system financing structure should actually be changed in such a way that the predominant undesirable out-of-pocket expenditure should be reduced, and spending is directed towards a large risk-pools with strong strategic purchasing capabilities. 
• This has stressed on best practices adopted by the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust of Karnataka which was launched in 2010, which went on to empanel hospitals from neighbouring states, for patients living in border areas for their state health insurance scheme and are now aiming for providing the health scheme for their entire 6.4 crore population. Karnataka is also looking at bringing all schemes under a single umbrella. Another example that has been cited for its best practices is in Meghalaya.