Context
An expert institution constituted by NITI Aayog has proposed a new Public Health Emergency Management Act (PHEMA).
About
- It will cope with a range of public health issues, along with epidemics, non-communicable diseases, disasters, and bioterrorism, through a holistic method overlaying prevention, control, and disaster response.
- The Act could also offer for the creation of professional public health cadres at national and state levels.
- Priority Targets: Developing human assets and infrastructure.
- Creating modern countermeasures and suitable high-chance financing.
- Strengthening regulatory frameworks and surveillance networks.
- Connecting epidemiological, genomic, laboratory, and medical data.
Challenges and Concern
- India, with its massive population and diverse healthcare landscape, faces several public health challenges.
- Infectious diseases : India grapples with infectious diseases that pose considerable threats to public health. For example
- The COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare structures, leading to overwhelmed hospitals, shortages of medical materials, and lack of lives.
- Vector-Borne Diseases: Diseases like malaria, dengue, and chikungunya continue to affect big sections of the population.
- Infrastructure : India’s healthcare infrastructure faces challenges related to funding, infrastructure gaps, and inadequate staffing.
- Rural regions often lack proper scientific facilities, leading to disparities in healthcare access.
- Shortage of Healthcare Workers: The shortage of medical doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals exacerbates the crisis.
- Malnutrition and Maternal Health: Despite progress, malnutrition remains a significant problem.
- India nevertheless grapples with high maternal mortality rates.
- Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) : Diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular conditions are at the upward thrust
- Environmental Health: India faces severe air pollution, specifically in urban centers.
- This contributes to respiratory diseases and different health issues.
- India’s public health spending : It has been meager, hovering around 1% of GDP.
- Despite current increases bringing this toward 2%, it remains insufficient when compared to global requirements.
Initiatives
- National Rural Health Mission (2005) and National Health Mission (2013) targeted on strengthening public sector health care.
- Recent policies emphasize publicly funded medical health insurance (PFHI) schemes like PMJAY.
- Economic survey data : As a percent of GDP, expenditure on social services has improved from 6.7% in 2017-18 to 7.8% in 2023-24.
- Correspondingly, health expenditure has multiplied from 1.4% to at least 1.9% in the same duration.
Suggestions and Way Forward
- India’s public health crisis needs a multi-pronged approach involving authorities regulations, community participation, and global collaboration.
- Lessons need to be learnt from national and global experiences with COVID-19 to tell destiny preparedness and response strategies.
- To deal with the gaps exposed by way of the pandemic, there needs to be an increase in public health funding, that specialize in both infrastructure and human assets.
- Strengthening the financial guide to states is crucial.
- Establishing a sturdy surveillance community and enhancing information control can be important for effective public health responses.
- Investing in the education and development of healthcare professionals is vital.
- Establish health cadres at both national and state levels to improve emergency management.
- Create an Empowered Group of Secretaries on Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response (PPER), chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, to coordinate responses.
- Build and preserve a skilled personnel prepared for fast response in the course of emergencies and make sure preparedness all through peacetime.
- There is a need for the status quo of a Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response Fund for powerful and well timed motion.
Source: The Indian Express