India has committed to increasing public health spending to 2.5% of GDP while striving to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goals for maternal and child health ahead of the 2030 deadline.
"We are committed to increasing India's health spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025, reaching to more than $100 billion. This will mean an actual increase of 345 percent over the current share, in just eight years", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the Partners' Forum, a two-day global conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.
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"The India story is one of hope. Hope that roadblocks can be overcome. Hope that behavioural change can be ensured. Hope that rapid progress can be achieved", Modi said at the forum attended by 1,200 delegates including 25 ministers from 85 countries.
"The current spending of the government on public health is around a little less than one percent of the GDP. Increasing it to 2.5 percent is welcome but may not be sufficient though. Another concern is the delivery aspect of it. Government needs to put in place an outcome accountability mechanism", Dr Bobby John, founding member of the Global Health Advocates told Sputnik.
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With respect to achieving the SDGs, one must not forget that various ministries are involved in attaining the goals and there must be urgent efforts to develop that synergy between the different stake holders, he added.
Partners' Forum is a global health partnership launched in September 2005. This partnership is an alliance of more than 1,000 members, across 10 constituencies in 92 countries.
