| Abstrakt: |
Social health protection is an essential part of the welfare policy framework. This article discusses two components of Social health protection – direct provision of health care services by the government and NGOs; and micro health insurance for covering catastrophic health expenditures. The discussion sections start with the components of direct healthcare service provision at the village level: healthcare centers, free medicines, health camps, awareness campaigns and health talks and referral services. The article shows that if done properly, all these components are well appreciated by the villagers. They are seen to have no urge to use private facilities, if good facilities established by govt/NGO exist. NSS also shows that there is higher utilization of government health services than before. The article shows that quality and affordable healthcare leads to better income, better school attendance, reduction in out of pocket expenditures and minimal dependence on informal health workers. However, the current healthcare service situation in rural India leaves much to be desired. There are problems of infrastructure, manpower, training, availability of consumables, and hence lack of trust in government services. Reimbursement of health expenses can address some of these issues but the articles whos that there too, the progress is slow and not upto the mark yet. Therefore it is concluded that health care services in India need to be upgraded starting from providing very basic facilities like water and electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
