Universal Health Care in India: For PM to Act Now!

PM of India is getting ready to roll out Universal Health Care for economically weaker sections which is a welcome move. But there are issues regarding accountability, quality of health care and facilities. Here are 5 radical moves that can make PM's UHC program successful:

1. Make it mandatory for all MPs and MLAs to get treated in Government run hospitals. If they opt for private hospitals then it must be funded from their pocket or private medical insurance. This will ensure better quality of service in governmental hospitals.If MPs and MLAs get treated in Government facilities, there could be more accountability and improvement of service levels.
2. Set-up more feeder hospitals or primary health centers in rural India and appoint more doctors to manage influx of patients from the free universal health care. This will help patients to be screened and appropriate cases referred to the next level.
3. Medical college students in private colleges must complete their house surgeon year in one of these rural hospitals. This will help students understand rural India and their medical needs and also make a decision on where to focus wrt post-graduation and research.
4. Quality check all medicines that are supplied to Government hospitals to prevent situations like the recent incident where poisoned medicines and botched sterilizations killed over 14 mothers.
5. Lastly, get in PPP model and FDI to manage and improve quality of service and upgrade facilities at many of these Government Hospitals. This also provides employment in rural India and MGNREGA scheme can be tied up to these hospitals.