How important is the non-governmental sector for providing public health services in India?

ABSTRACT

The non-governmental but not-for-profit sector seems to bridge the gap apparent in a shortage of government resources and unaffordable for-profit services in the healthcare market of India. Based on a background study about the non-governmental organisation for official health accounts, it was found to be imperative, especially in providing preventive and promotive healthcare services. To the current health expenditure of the country, this sector contributes around 2.1%, with funds generated largely as grants from governments and foreign sources. Indeed, financial contribution is not as imperative as the ability to reach grassroots for providing healthcare, which should be considered as an opportunity to augment the capacity of the health system, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• India
• non-governmental organisations
• health care provision
• health expenditure

Acknowledgements

This article largely relies on an official background study about the non-governmental sector led by the author for the national and subnational levels health account under a consortium for a multidisciplinary research project entitled Strengthening Eco-System for Sustainable and Inclusive Health Financing in India, funded by USAID. The author would like to thank the funder and federal government agencies, namely, the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) and Central Statistics Office (CSO) for helpful suggestions and support. Special thanks to the project team and Health Economics & Finance Division of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and to Sakthivel Selvaraj and Rajeev Kumar for their support. Thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewers and editor of this journal for their valuable comments on an earlier draft. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Notes on contributors

Nimai Das

Nimai Das is Associate Professor of Environment and Developmental Economics at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (an autonomous institute under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India). His areas of interest for teaching as well as research include quantitative economics and applied econometric modelling, environment and natural resource economics, public economics and policies. He has been associated as faculty member in several academic and policy research institutes, and has significant research publications in some leading international journals in economics. He has completed several research and consultancy projects funded by international and national agencies. He has a doctorate in economics from erstwhile Presidency College in the University of Calcutta.