The report has come out at a time when India is going to elect its next government and therefore is likely to acquire a special significance. PM Narendra Modi and his party BJP are seeking for their third term. Though PM Modi and RSS-BJP clan have been claiming that they had done marvellous works in protecting the ailing Indians, the dire situation itself is self-explanatory that their claims are false, their performances were dismal, and they are yet not ready to accept that healthcare is government responsibility.

If we go through NITI Aayog Annual Health Index 2023, which covers the year 2020-21 and tracked the achievement of States and Union Territories, we clearly see that Opposition ruled states generally have performed better than the BJP ruled states. Performance score among larger states shows Kerala was at the top with a score of 77.53, followed by Punjab 65.83,Tamil Nadu 64.05, Gujarat 62.71,Maharashtra 61.76, Himachal Pradesh 61.84, Jammu and Kashmir 61.02, Andhra Pradesh 60.84, Karnataka 59.39, Telangana 56.12, and Chhattisgarh 52.69. From the bottom at performance list among larger states are Uttar Pradesh with score of 34.44, Rajasthan 37.35, Bihar 39.10, Odisha 40.19, Madhya Pradesh 40.77, Uttarakhand 44.61, Assam 45.84, Haryana 47.59.

It goes without saying that opposition political parties that are mostly part of the INDIA bloc have performed better than the BJP governments. Union Territories are under direct Central rule led by PM Narendra Modi, but Delhi is at the top of healthcare performance which is ruled by AAP government under CM Arvind Kejriwal which is under detention by Enforcement Directorate. Kejriwal government has done commendable work in opening Mohalla Clinics, and providing better healthcare facilities to common people who can’t afford treatment. AAP is now also ruling Punjab, whose healthcare performance is improving fast though it is just second in performance in the country after Kerala which is ruled presently by the Left with the highest performance score.

Though healthcare performance in Rajasthan has been among the worst, the Congress led government had lately created a history by bringing a legislation for “right to free treatment”. Congress has thus become the first political party in the country to acknowledge that health of the people and healthcare are the responsibility of the government, and introduced the first healthcare scheme giving right to health to the people in the state. The recently released Congress manifesto has declared that the party firmly believes that all citizens have the right to health.

Congress has promised in its manifesto that healthcare will be universal and free in public health centres such as hospitals, clinics, primary health centres, mobile healthcare units, dispensaries and health camps. Free healthcare will include examination, diagnostics, treatment, surgery, medicines, rehabilitation and palliative care.

Such guarantee by the chief opposition political party Congress in the INDIA bloc is significant at a time when the medical treatment has increasingly costly under Modi regime of the last 10 years and have become unaffordable for majority of the people in the country. Congress has committed itself in the manifesto 2024 that the Rajasthan Model of cashless insurance up to Rs25 lakh will be adopted for universal healthcare. Not only that the party has said that it will encourage the introduction of health insurance scheme in the private sector and public sector, for which the current universal healthcare programme will be redesigned for different sections of the people and will allow enlistment of private hospitals, non-profit health facilities and health centres under the scheme.

Congress manifesto has said that budget allocation for health will be increased step by step every year to achieve 4 per cent of total expenditure by 2028-29. It should be noted that it was only around 2 per cent in 2023-24 under PM Narendra Modi. The Union health budget was0.35% of GDP in 2023-24, and it was 0.42% in 2022-23 and 0.56% in 2021-22.

It is also significant that Congress has promised that all manufacturers of medicines will be under strict scrutiny for maintaining quality and following good manufacturing practices. We know by now that several medicine manufacturing companies were under investigation for low quality medicines but no actions were taken against them after they gave political donations under Modi’s Electoral Bond Scheme, which the Supreme Court of India has declared unconstitutional.

Being the chief political party in INDIA bloc, Congress manifesto has initiated a great step ahead for all of its constituent political parties. Though AAP in Delhi and Left Front in Kerala has already done commendable works in healthcare, guaranteeing “right to health and free treatment” is likely to be included in the common minimum programme of the INDIA bloc.

BJP is yet to come out with its Election Manifesto 2024, and only after its publication we will be able to compare what PM Narendra Modi has to offer in healthcare sector to rescue the people of the country from dire health situation, that has increasingly become unmanageable in the last 10 years of his rule, both at the individual level and at the government level. There is a health emergency for the nation, and every citizen must weigh political parties’ performance and guarantees before voting in General Election 2024. (IPA Service)