Population control lacks priority in India: M Venkaiah Naidu

Naidu mentioned that the challenges on the healthcare front continue to be daunting and formidable

Population control has lacked priority in India, M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President, India said in Hyderabad, lamenting the tendency in some quarters to link it to religion. He was speaking after inaugurating a medical camp and two skill development facilities at Swarna Bharat Trust’s (SBT’s) Hyderabad chapter in Hyderabad.

“The need to control population in the country has been forgotten. The country’s population is (now) over 130 crore. We have forgotten the aspect of controlling population. Political parties are also scared to talk about it fearing what people may think. Unfortunately, some are linking it to religion. However, it is not related to it,” Naidu said.

Naidu also said though healthcare has been accorded utmost priority by successive governments since independence, the challenges on this front continue to be daunting and formidable.

“The major challenges include low public spend, low doctor-patient ratio, low patient-bed ratio, dearth of medical colleges and trained doctors, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate disease surveillance and preventive mechanisms,” he said.

He proposed a need for a multi-pronged effort to tackle all these problems by the government, the private sector, voluntary organisations and even individual medical specialists at their own level.

“While developed nations spend about 18 per cent of the GDP on healthcare goods and services, India spends a mere 4.2 per cent,” he said, adding there is a definite need not only to expand the infrastructure in public health sector, but also increase the budget.

“While the number of physicians available is 20 per 10,000 people in developed countries, it is only six in India.

The country needs 10.5 lakh doctors while we have only 6.5 lakh,” he added.

Mohd Mahmood Ali, Deputy Chief Minister, Telangana and T Harish Rao, Irrigation Minister, Telangana were among those who spoke on the occasion.