“The theme of Healthcare Sabha 2017- Co-creating a manifesto for a healthy India’ is very timely as world over healthcare policy makers, professionals working in this sphere are focussing on population health and more importantly India with its several challenges need to direct its effort toward this aspect,” expressed Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Advisor, MoH&FW, Government of India during the valedictory speech at the event.
Gupta gave a rundown on the existing public health system of India and drew inference from the past experiences. He spoke that healthy living was an old Indian concept and how our Indian society has moved away from the same. “There is a continuous debate on whether the government needs to invest more on medical interventions or public health interventions-both being of great evidence. However, the overwhelming evidence says that the highest impact on longevity is public intervention v/s medical interventions compared to the cost. Lifestyle and preventive care have the highest impact on longevity,” he said.
Furtheron, Gupta shared examples of the US and the UK and how they have dealt with their public health problems as well as designed a strong healthcare system by focussing on addressing problems such as sanitation, hygiene and nutrition. Moreover, he said that these countries were able to sort their healthcare challenges by focussing on public health interventions.
He referred to the Indian Economic Survey of 2014 and said, “India needs a fundamental and a strategic shift in its thinking on how to spend on public health. But the question arises where to spend in public health and answer is child health. If our children are healthy then we will have one half of the battle won against NCDs and then can we will be able to build a sustainable healthcare system.”
Gupta also spoke on various endeavours by the government to enhance health and well-being of its citizens. He also gave several recommendations to augment the current framework such as making pharmacists and nurses the cornerstones of the public health system and integrating AYUSH with mainstream medical practice by making it more evidence-based. He also lauded Express Healthcare for creating a platform like Healthcare Sabha to bring all policymakers under one roof.
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