8% of households push below poverty line each year due to health expenditure: CII Report

About 7 to 8 per cent of households in the country are pushed below the poverty line every year because of expenses incurred on healthcare, according to India Health Report 2010 prepared by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indicus Analytics.

The India health Report, released recently, also said that the contribution of the private sector in terms of the availability of hospital beds has gradually increased from about 28 per cent in 1973 to about 61 per cent in 1996. Indicus estimates this to have reached about 78 per cent in 2009.

Indians have inadequate access to quality healthcare, and this is particularly true for the poor, those residing in rural areas, STs and women. According to the Report, about 7–8 per cent of households are pushed below the poverty line because of expenses incurred on healthcare. There are critical gaps in infrastructure especially with respect to the presence of healthcare centres and well-trained staff.