Out of pocket health spending has risen in rural India: study

Even after adjusting inflation, spending has increased 25 per cent in six years

Published on:

30 Dec 2011, 12:03 pm

Government schemes to provide health care and health insurance cover to the poor seem to have been of little help if one were to go by the findings of a recent health study. The out of pocket expenditure of households in rural India has shot up, says the study conducted by Prayas, a non-profit from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, along with Oxfam India.

The study, designed on the pattern of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), covered rural areas of six states—Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Bihar. Data for Bihar has not been included in the study yet due to a technical glitch.

Major findings

Average medical expenditure for non-hospitalised treatment per person has shot up to Rs 832 per fortnight. The average of the same states in 2004 was Rs 322 as per the NSSO 60th round findings
Similarly, for hospitalised treatment, a person spent Rs 13,459 on an average in 2011 as compared to Rs 6,234 in 2004
The study also shows an increase in health care seeking trend amongst rural Indians. In 2004, 64 per cent people reported morbidity as compared to 70 per cent in 2011
52 per cent people now prefer private health care service providers as compared to 49 per cent in 2004
Households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) of less than Rs 500, spend an average Rs 407 on non-hospitalised treatment. Those with MPCE of more than Rs 2,000 spend Rs 1,494 on the same

Poor reflection on government welfare schemes

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)