The document discusses the right to health and universal health care (UHC) in India, highlighting the need for integrated care and a focus on primary healthcare to bridge existing gaps. Key challenges include inadequate healthcare infrastructure, a high disease burden, limited health financing, and gender disparities. Proposed solutions emphasize investment in primary care, comprehensive health resources, and improved infrastructure to enhance access and health outcomes for all citizens.

1. AETCOM
(Module 2.3)
HEALTH CARE AS A RIGHT
Presented by:
Roll no.109 to 114

2. Is health care a right?
Universal Health Care (UHC):
WHO defines UHC as a situation where all citizens can
assess health services without financial hardship and
ensures that all people have access to care when they
need it wherever they are.
Right to health is a fundamental right that was first
articulated in the WHO Constitution in 1946.

3. MISSING LINKS IN UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE - Roll
no.110
1.Providing integrated care
● The aim is to integrate financial protection and comprehensive health care
where the financial provider(risk manager) and the healthcare provider are a
single entity.
● Key benefit- current shift in incentives of the health provider from the focus on
promoting hospitalisation to promoting health and prevention of illness.
● Health care systems owned and financed by the govt are suited for this
system.
● If there is confidence in both patient and provider behaviour, we can invite non
govt organisations to also bid to provide such integrated managed care
services, like Thailand has done.

4. 2. Primary healthcare with gatekeeping.
● Need to shift focus of attention from hospital based care to primary care.
● 97.5 percent of all conditions would need to be dealt with at primary care
level.
● Evidence from Arogyasri in Andhra Pradesh shows people are seeking care at
hospitals even for conditions which are patently treatable at primary care
facilities.
● If we focus on primary health care, it would reduce the excess demand for
hospital beds even as we seek to address the unmet needs for hospital beds
in deficient regions.

5. What are the Challenges Related to
Right to Health in India?
1. Inadequate Healthcare Infrastructure:
•Despite recent improvements, India's healthcare
infrastructure remains inadequate, particularly in
rural areas.
•India has 1.4 beds per 1,000 people, 1 doctor per
1,445 people, and 1.7 nurses per 1,000 people.
Over 75% of the healthcare infrastructure is

6. concentrated in metro cities, where only 27% of
the total population resides—the rest 73% of the
Indian population lack even basic medical
facilities.
2. High Disease Burden:
•India has a high burden of communicable and
non-communicable diseases,
including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria,
and diabetes.
•Addressing these diseases requires significant
investment in healthcare infrastructure and
resources.

7. •According to a report by Frontiers in Public
Health, more than 33% of the individuals are still
suffering from infectious diseases out of the total
ailing population in India.
3. Limited Health Financing:
● India's health financing system is limited, with
low levels of public spending on healthcare. This
limits the government's ability to invest in
healthcare infrastructure and resources, and it can
lead to inadequate healthcare services for
individuals.

8. ● Government of India spent 2.1% of GDP on
healthcare . This is much lower than the average
health spending share of the GDP.
4. Gender Disparities:
●Women in India face significant health
disparities, including limited access to healthcare,
higher rates of maternal mortality, and gender-
based violence.
● According to the World Economic Forum 2021,
India consistently ranks among the five worst
countries in the world for the health and survival
of females.

9. ● Women from poor households account for over
2,25,000 lesser hospital visits .

10. BARRIERS TO HEALTHCARE ACCESS
Source: https:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
NAME- NAINA SAINI
COGNITIVE
BARRIERS
• Arises when there is
a lack of
information on
factors related to
health care or when
there is an inability
to use such
information.
FINANCIAL BARRIERS
• It is related to the
income of a person,
as charges of using
healthcare services
can be
unaffordable to
some people.
STRUCTURAL
BARRIERS
• Include
transportation,
working hours of
the healthcare
facilities, and clinic
and appointment
wait time.

11. Innovation and solution to address
these gaps
1. Need to shift the focus of attention from hospital-based care, to primary care —
in terms of financing, development of infrastructure and usage.
2. Need substantial investments at the primary level combined
with a strong gatekeeping framework that does not allow patients to seek hospital-
based care unless they have been referred by a primary-care provider.
3. Clean drinking water, improved sanitation and improved education of girls, have
the potential to produce a very big impact on health outcomes, UHC is much more
narrowly focussed on what the health-care system itself can provide directly in
terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary care.

12. 4. Need to include the entire population and not just be targeted
at the poor.
5. Urge politicians to invest more in health, education
6. Redistribution of health resources (focus on rural health, primary
care, public health approach, prevention and promotion).
7. Improve Infrastructure - organizational & physical infrastructure of
hospitals, institutions, research, human resources, roads,
communication, power & environment.

13. THANK YOU