India currently ranks 145th among 195 countries in terms of quality and accessibility of healthcare. It is lacking way behind its neighbors like China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, according to a recent study.
In a study in 2016, India’s healthcare access and quality scored 41.2 which was a huge up from 24.7 in the year 1990.
It said that Goa and Kerala had the highest scores when compared state-wise in 2016. Noth these states exceeded 60 points, whereas Assam and Uttar Pradesh had the lowest, each below 40.
Scores of the some of the neighbouring countries in the test are-
- China (48)
- Sri Lanka (71)
- Bangladesh (133)
- Bhutan (134)
- Nepal (149)
- Pakistan (154)
- Afghanistan (191).
While India’s health index was better than some of the high scoring neighbouring countries as well. The five countries that had the highest levels of healthcare access and quality in 2016 were-
- Iceland (97.1 points)
- Netherlands (96.1)
- Luxembourg (96.0)
- Norway (96.6)
- Finland and Australia (each with 95.9)
The countries that had the lowest scores in the same regard were-
- The Central African Republic (18.6)
- Somalia (19.0)
- Chad (25.4)
- Afghanistan (25.9)
- Guinea-Bissau (23.4)
The study also stated that India performed poorly in tackling cases of tuberculosis, heart diseases, stroke, testicular cancer, etc.
These results emphasised on an urgent need for improvinghealthcare access and quality in India. In failing to do so, health systems could face widening gaps between the health services they provide and the disease burden experienced by local communities.
According to the study, India and China had the widest disparities in healthcare access and quality scores. Japan had the least amount of difference with India of just 4.8 points.
In 2016, the global average healthcare access and quality score for India was 54.4 which was an increase from 42.4 points in the year 2000.
