IIT Jodhpur study reveals govt, households spend more on private hospitals

According to the research analysis, the average total spending per day of hospitalisation in India is INR 2,833 for public hospitals and INR 6,788 for private hospitals.  

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur conducted a research on how much do government and households spend on an episode of hospitalisation during their visit to public and private healthcare facilities in India. The research revealed that the government and households put together spent substantially more per hospitalisation in private hospitals than public hospitals. According to the research analysis, the average total spending per day of hospitalisation in India is INR 2,833 for public hospitals and INR 6,788 for private hospitals.  

‘Inpatient care under public facilities cost-effective’ 

Highlighting the need for research, Alok Ranjan, assistant professor, School of Liberal Arts, IIT Jodhpur, said, “Provisioning of inpatient care under public facilities is more cost-effective compared to the private sector in India. Therefore, there is an urgent need to invest in public health facilities compared to purchasing it from the private sector.”  

This survey was carried out with the support of the State Health Resource Centre, a technical agency working for the Department of Health, Government of Chhattisgarh, in 64 healthcare facilities across the state. The current study found that the total cost per hospitalisation in private hospitals was several times greater than the public hospitals. 

The study has important implications in deciding the road map of achieving universal health coverage in India. It is one of the first in its kind study which has done costing of public and private healthcare facilities for unit inpatient care in the country. Its relevance becomes even more in the context of strategic purchasing from the private sector, which has been mentioned as one of the important policy directions under National Health Policy-2017. 

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