New Delhi: Niti Aayog member VK Paul on Monday said that the Health Accounts report 2018-19 showed a rise in the expenditure on health by both union and state governments.

National Health Accounts report 2018-19

Speaking to ANI, Paul said, “National Health Accounts report 2018-19 has been released by the government today. The report shows that there is a rise in the expenditure on health by the government, both Union and State.”

Paul added that the outer pocket expenditure is showing a steady decline from 64 per cent to 48 per cent. The expenditure on primary health care is also steadily rising, Paul stated.

“This report tells us that the vision set by the PM and the processes is in the right direction,” he further stated.

NTI Aayog releases report

Paul, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog, in presence of Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released findings of the National Health Accounts (NHA) Estimates for India for 2018-19.

In a significant update, various indicators related to health expenditure in the country have shown encouraging trend, which has been demonstrated on a sustained basis.

Increase in share of govt health expenditure

The NHA estimates for 2018-19 show that there has been an increase in the share of government health expenditure in the total GDP of the country. It has increased from 1.15% in 2013-14 to 1.28% in 2018-19, an official statement said.

Additionally, the share of Government Health Expenditure in Total Health Expenditure has also increased over time. In 2018-19, the share of government expenditure was 40.6%, substantially higher than the share of 28.6% in 2013-14.

NHA findings also indicate that Government’s health expenditure as a percentage of Current Health Expenditure has increased from 23.2% in 2013-14 to 34.5% in 2018-19, the statement added.