News & Events

(Date: 25.12.2014) Indian Doctors for Peace & Development (IDPD) has strongly condemned the decision of government of India to cut health budget by 20%. This is to slash 6000 Crore rupees out of total budget of Rs.35,163 crore on health for the financial year ending on 31st March 2015. It is ironical that public spending on health in India is one among the lowest in the world as low as Sierra Leone and Haiti. India spends 1% of its GDP on health as compared 3% by China and 8.3 % by the USA. This cut will further lower our health indicators some of which are even lower than Bangladesh. In 2013 in our country 13 lakh children died before reaching their fifth birthday. India’s Childhood mortality rate (Children dying before 5th birthday) is 53 as compared to China’s 13 and Srilanka’s 10. India accounts for around 16% of globe’s population and 30% of world’s poor. Arjun Sen Gupta commission had in 2008 reported that 77% of Indian population lives on less than Rs.20/- per day. This huge number is dependent on state run health institutions for their needs. They are already marginalized and under nourished. As a result they are more prone to be taken ill. With this decision of the government , they will be further marginalized. This decision will only help the corporate sector which takes healthcare as business. This has also exposed the government’s intention to promote corporate sector in health ignoring the interest of vast majority of our population. It is worth noting here that since the present government took over the prices of the newer Anti HIV and Anti Cancer drugs have increased rocket high. We demand that this cut be immediately revoked.