Disease Management Association of India (DMAI) in a representation to the health ministry demanded the government to to give strategic considerations for the healthcare sector in the 12th five year plan. In the representation to Ghulam Nabi Azad and prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the association highlighted some of the important points that is essential to be implemented for building a robust healthcare system in country.

The association informed that all the recommendations that were sent to the health ministry was given after elaborate deliberation and discussions with the stakeholders from the sector, including the patient groups, on how to improve the quality of healthcare in India.

According to policy expert, Rajendra Pratap Gupta who is also the president and director of DMAI, “Since the 12 th five year plan is being touted as 'plan for health', we want to ensure that all the factors and issues that hinder the growth of this highly competitive sector is dealt properly. This is because only by addressing these issues can we adopt an effective model for the healthcare system in the country that will truly benefit the public at large.”

In their representation, DMAI demanded that the government should take steps to ensure strict adherence of quality norms so that it will improve the healthcare delivery system in the country. The representation states, “The government should make it mandatory for healthcare providers to submit all the data pertaining to patients and their treatment outcomes from the hospitals to the government every year without fail along with information on the doctors and clinicians as well. As this will act as a major push towards improving quality in healthcare system of the country.”

Association opined that this data could be maintained under the Quality Council of India (QCI) or an entity under QCI, funded jointly by the government and private players or, as an independent organisation. The representation said, “This organisation     must analyse the data and post it on the website, so as to enable the patients to make an informed choice when it comes to choosing the doctors or hospitals or the caregivers bringing transparency in healthcare system.”

Gupta warned that doubling of budgets for healthcare will not be able to address the healthcare problems facing the nation, till  the government 'double their understanding' of the real issues and the solutions and give up the parochial approach to remedy the ills in the present system. “It is clear that the government lacks an execution plan, and also that; ‘execution’ has never been the forte of the government. It is high time that government puts  PPPr Public Performance based rewards partnership in place like the NHAI and then only releases the budget for the 12 th five year plan,” Gupta pointed out.