Niti Aayog wants free health scrapped

New Delhi: Suggesting significant changes in the Centre’s draft National Health Policy 2015, the Niti Aayog has suggested more engagement with the private sector in healthcare and setting up of a sickness fund, where people can contribute to avail of services from both private and public providers. It also advocated against offering a “chimera” of free drugs and healthcare to people.

These strong recommendations could delay the unveiling of the policy as the government must take into account these suggestions before finalising it, sources said. The sickness fund could be on the lines of the government’s recently-launched social security schemes like Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, that are contributory in nature, Niti Aayog suggested.

In a note on its views on the NHP-2015 draft, a copy of which is with this newspaper, the government’s think tank strongly opposed its vision of providing “free care and drugs”. It noted that the government struggled to provide even one per cent of GDP for healthcare.