India bats for equitable healthcare access in its G20 Presidency

New Delhi [India], March 4 (ANI): In its ongoing G20 Presidency, India strives for equitable access to healthcare for all. India is also giving a lot of importance to a value-based healthcare system.

“With the G20 presidency, we have the opportunity to create multilateral collaborations between countries facilitated by knowledge sharing and leading to the formulation of effective policies aiding accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare to citizens across the world,” India’s Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar said recently. The pandemic has brought serious health-related issues prominently into the picture, posing detrimental future consequences.

The recent health hazards have made it essential to have high-quality, affordable, and accessible health services equitably available for all, irrespective of boundaries.

Here, the first Health Working Group meeting under India’s G20 Presidency proved very effective in addressing the vulnerabilities and disparities of the systems, besides advocating holistic and universal health and wellbeing.

The meeting widely resonated on health priorities like emergencies, prevention, preparedness, strengthening cooperation, and digital health innovation and solutions, especially when the situation in low- and middle-income countries is worrisome owing to a restricted and uneven health care system.

Recognising that the pandemic policy must be a defining part of our health policy, as any health crisis of today leads to a humongous economic crisis of tomorrow in an interconnected world, is now becoming an essential part of the agenda for our preparedness and response together.

To meet future health challenges, the budget 2023 has also announced a lot of measures. 157 new nursing colleges are proposed to be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.

A mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia by 2047, will also be launched, which will entail the universal screening of seven crore people in the age group of 0-40.
For medical research, facilities in select ICMR Labs will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculties and private sector R&D teams, encouraging collaborative research and innovation, reported News on AIR.
Pawar said India intends to accelerate efforts towards increasing the pace of implementation of value-based healthcare and achieving the goal of Universal Health Coverage.

She also emphasised the importance of medical value travel, saying “for centuries, traditional medicine has played a vital role in promoting health in communities worldwide, and it continues to be a first port of call and a crucial resource for individuals.”

She said traditional medicine was gaining worldwide recognition as an effective tool for pain management and holds a lot of promise against antibiotic resistance too, reported Economic Times.

A new programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals has also been planned through centres of excellence. The government also plans to encourage the pharma industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas.

The budget also increased the Center’s emphasis on integrating the Ayush system with the National Health ecosystem. Hence, the total allocation to the Ayush Ministry has been increased by 20 per cent to Rs 3,647 crore, along with an emphasis on promoting evidence-based research in Ayush systems through Ayush research councils.

With the G20 health meeting and budget 2023 focusing on expanding health services almost simultaneously, the foundation and framework of a global health architecture, aiming to equip countries with robust healthcare systems to face the next health emergency, appear to be taking shape.