Odisha’s out-of-pocket spend on health drops to 53 per cent, says NHA report

BHUBANESWAR: The out-of-pocket expenditure on health has declined in Odisha by Rs 943 in four years’ time although it continues to be above 50 per cent of the Total Health Expenditure (THE), the latest National Health Accounts Estimates for India for 2018-19 report says.

The report which was released by the Health Ministry on Monday revealed that the per capita out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) - direct payment made by households to healthcare providers at the point of receiving service - has significantly declined from Rs 2,693  in 2015-16 to Rs 1,750 in 2018-19.

In 2015-16, the per capita THE stood at Rs 3,768 which pegged the OOPE at 71.5 per cent. In 20181-9, it has dropped 53.2 per cent.The per capita government health expenditure (GHE) in Odisha stands at Rs 1,343.

The health estimates show that Odisha’s total health expenditure (expense incurred by both government and private sources including external funds) fell to 3 per cent (pc) of the gross domestic state product in 2018-19 from 3.2 pc in 2017-18 and 5 pc in 2015-16.

As far as the amount of total health expenditure is concerned, Odisha spent Rs 14,788 crore in 2018-19 while it was Rs 13,771 crore the preceding year and Rs 16,579 crore in 2015-16. In the same period, the out-of-pocket expenditure as the percentage of the total health expenditure fell from 71.5 pc to 53.2 pc.

In 2018-19, State Government health expenditure was Rs 6,043 crore. This was 1.2 pc of the gross domestic state product. Compared with Kerala which has one of the most robust healthcare systems, the report says the South Indian State with a population of 3.5 crore saw Rs 34,548 crore total health expenditure (Rs 9,871 per capita) in 2018-19.The OOPE for Kerala was Rs 6,772 per capita (69 per cent) while per capita government health expense was Rs 2,479.