The Disease Management Association of India (DMAI) has urged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take a faster, sustainable and more inclusive approach as the main driving force in the 12th Five year plan for health to address various healthcare issues in the country.

In a representation, the DMAI stressed that though the approach paper of the 12th five year plan highlights the areas of concern and seven measurable targets, the government has overlooked to focus on one of the most critical issues of infant mortality and maternal mortality for which India has invested billions of dollars, and still has been facing the flak of all the international bodies.

Rajendra Pratap Gupta, president DMAI informed that in India there are about 18 million births every year, with highest number of still births. “So clearly, there has to be an action plan for 18 million mothers; right from the time of conception which includes awareness, education, sensitisation, nutritional and medical support as an integrated ‘healthy baby mission’ for India. So we request the government to make provisions by allotting a total budget of Rs. 18,000 crore to fix the problem. This amount is derived after considering the fact that we will be investing Rs.10,000 per new born baby every year. But along with the financial support, we also need a radical change in the approach we take coupled with efforts aimed at stabilising the population to contain the cost of financing in the medium and long term,” he added.

The DMAI also cautioned that without innovating with radical changes, this programme or any other programme that the government is building for IMR –MMR will not yield any results. Further he stressed that one of the best ways to tackle this issue and to improve the delivery of service is by outsourcing the work to the private sector as it will help in bringing in better options to the public at affordable price points along with creating more employment opportunities than the public sector.

He said, “We have achieved a lot by actively engaging the private sector in various segments of the economy and have also learned a lot during this journey. Now is the time to translate the learning and involve the private sector in government programmes for healthcare, and make sure that we have a healthier nation, with investment in healthcare leading to positive outcomes. Not only that PPP’s in health will lead to better health outcomes with accountability but also lead to increased investments and employment generation. For this we need to chart out the road map for private sector engagement, and also the guidelines to balance profits with outcomes and not trade one for another.”

The DMAI in its representation, dated August 21, stressed that it is high time to seriously re-consider the country's approach for each program, and work together with private sector to come out with an economic and health outcome model for the Indian healthcare system. It pointed out that without the private sector engagement healthcare will remain a bottomless pit for the exchequer and accountability issue will never get addressed.