National Health Accounts, 2018–19

The National Health Accounts estimate for 2018–19 highlights the working of the sector, its changing structure and also the wide disparity in the level of healthcare spending across states. The major players in the healthcare sector are the private- and government-owned hospitals and clinics. While the former provides around a third of the total healthcare spending nationally, the latter accounts for a quarter. The share of the pharmacies in the healthcare sector was slightly higher than one-fifth. In contrast, the diagnostic laboratories and administrative agencies together accounted for less than a tenth of the healthcare spending. Similarly, the most important healthcare function is inpatient curative care, which accounts for a third of the total spending. Medicines, and healthcare goods and outpatient curative care each accounted for around one-fifth of the total healthcare spending. The share of spending on preventive healthcare was just around one-tenth.

A cause for concern is the recent trends in healthcare expenditure. At the national level, the share of the total health expenditure has declined by around one-fourth in the last decade and a half. Between 2004–05 and 2018–19, the total health expenditure came down from 4.2% to 3.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is in sharp contrast to worldwide trends where the share of health spending in global GDP has doubled over the last two decades, creeping up close to double digits.