Question

What are the objectives of India's national policy on health? Suggest any two ways to fulfil these objectives.

Answer 1

The objectives of the National Health Policy are as follows
(i) Enhancing the contribution of the Private sector in providing health service for people who can afford to pay.
(ii) Giving primacy for prevention and first line curative initiative.
(iii) Emphasising rational use of drugs.
(iv) Increasing access to tried systems of traditional medicine. Later the recommendation of High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Universal Health Coverage encompass the area of health financing, health service norms, human resources for health, access to medicines, vaccines and technology and management and institutional reforms. The recommendation of HLEG includes the increase of phlelic, expenditure on health to at least 2.5% of GDP by the end of the 12th plan and at least 3% of GDP by 2020.
The two ways to fulfil these objectives are as follows
(i) Increasing the number of trained nurses or midwives to one per village.
(ii) Making available generic medicines (instead of branded medicines) at all government dispensaries.
These steps will help to meet the objectives of the policy of the government.