Privatisation of State Health care in Punjab will add to impoverishment-IDPD

Ludhiana, November 27, 2025: Low priority in the spending on health by the government is forcing the population to shelve money from their pocket to catastrophic level. Most of the families have to either sell their assets or borrow for health services. This was said by speakers at an interactive session on the ‘Present Health Scenario in Punjab - The Way Forward’ organised jointly by the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), PAU Employees Union and PAU Pensioners and Retirees Welfare Association.

Dr  Arun Mitra president IDPD while initiating the discussion said that India is among the lowest spenders on public health in the world. The NITI Aayog has admitted that the Out of Pocket expenditure on health is pushing  7% population into poverty every year. Our poor ranking of 102 out of 123 in the Global Hunger Index is a cause of concern as a poorly nourished person is more vulnerable to fall sick. Government has failed to meet even its own figures to increase public Health spending to 2.5% of the GDP even though the as per the World Health organisation (WHO) norms it should be 6% of the GDP towards health. Our spending hovers around less than 2%. Peace meal approach to health, more stress on insurance based health care and entry of corporate sector in a big way in the health care ‘business’ has not solved the health needs of the people.
Dr. Indervir Singh Gill member of the central council of IDPD cautioned that Punjab is among the top out of pocket spending (OOP) states on health. Over OOP is 57% against the national average of around 40%. Large number of vacancies of doctors and other health staff are lying vacant. There are only 50 percent general medical officers and specialist doctors both against the sanctioned posts in the state sector to serve the population of more than 3 crore people in the state. Allocation to health in the budget is less than 2%. Our health bending per the State's GDP is only 0.7% against the recommended 2.5% by the Niti Aayog. Now lately the government is planning to privatise the civil hospitals through PPP mode and also to open the new medical colleges in the PPP mode. This will further push the low income group people to impoverishment. This plan should be immediately revoked he said.
As per the government plan the upcoming medical colleges in Sangrur and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar will now be opened under the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model through the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), and tenders for the same have already been floated. This will make the medical education in the state more expensive. Whereas the annual tuition fee in the government  run colleges is about 1.8 lakh per year the private colleges are charging  up to  12 Lakh per year.
It has been observed across the world that countries where the government itself provides healthcare services have far better health indicators compared to those where healthcare is delivered through the private sector or insurance companies. Therefore, instead of moving toward privatization, the Punjab Government should increase the health budget and directly ensure healthcare services for the people. D P Maur, President PAU Pensioners and Retirees Association said that the senior citizens who have no income of their own are the worst sufferers. M S Bhatia, General Secretary AITUC Ludhiana said that the government is diluting the ESI which will have serious implication on workers’ health.  Dr Pragya Sharma, compeered the proceedings. Baldev Singh Walia, President PAU Employees Union thanked the participants.  Several participants who gave their inputs include Dr Param Saini, Dr Gurveer Singh,  Dr Suraj Dhillon, Dr Ankush Kumar.