About 70 per cent of the healthcare spending of an average Indian is for buying medicines whereas his other healthcare expenditure is just five per cent of his total household income, according to the official estimates.

People in the urban areas spend about 69.18 per cent of their total health expenditure on medicines while their counterparts in the rural areas spend 77.33 per cent of the health expenditure on the same, according to the data with the Planning Commission based on the official studies. The total share of healthcare in the household expenditure for urban Indians is 4.91 per cent while it is 6.09 per cent in the case of rural people.

The expenditure on drugs is the highest in Orissa, with urban people spending 90.26 per cent and rural people shedding out 90.64 per cent of their total health budget. States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan also spend high on drugs, setting apart more than 80 per cent of health expenditure for the purpose.

Karnataka people spend less on drugs, with the urban folk using just 55.96 per cent of their health expenditure and the rural people with 68.75 per cent. Maharashtra also comparatively spends less, with rural people using 68.75 per cent and urban people using 59.08 per cent of their health expenditure on drugs. The spending in other states ranged between 60 to 80 per cent on average, the data says.

In the case of setting apart household income for health, Uttar Pradesh spends most. Rural people in the State spend as much as 8.2 per cent of their income for health while it is 5.64 per cent in case of urban population.

Assam spends the least for health, with rural folk spending just 2.47 per cent and urban people using 4.04 per cent. Jammu also has less expenditure on health, with rural people spending just 2.90 per cent of their income and urban people using 3.61 per cent of income.

According to the public interest groups working for rational use of drugs, the percentage of spending on medicines is much more. A recent study by the Centre for Health and Social Justice in collaboration with University of Edinburgh (along with Martin Chautari in Nepal), about 80 per cent of health expenditure is for drugs alone.