Requesting for a considerable share of the total outlay to be set apart for health sector in the first general budget of the new government at the centre, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has submitted a set of suggestions to the government to be considered while drafting the financial plans for the next fiscal.

IMA is underscored to have suggested that the government should bring in legislation to deter the pharmaceutical companies from using trade names for their products for the purpose of marketing.

The drugs should be marketed only in their chemical names and no trade name should be allowed.  It will help to bring in uniformity for all types of drugs available for sale. At the same time there should be strict mechanism to monitor and ensure that drugs available in the market are of good quality, IMA informed the government.

Further, the doctors’ body said the government should increase the spending for public procurement of medicines from 0.1per cent to 0.5per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Likewise, measures should be taken to promote health equipment manufacturing industry in the country and sufficient amount should be invested for the sector. Government should consider in establishing a separate department under the ministry of science and technology for health technology.

IMA wanted the government to increase the public expenditure on health from the current level of 1.2 per cent of GDP to at least 2.5per cent by the end of the 12th plan, and to at least 3 per cent of GDP by the year 2022. Government should also ensure that a minimum of 55 per cent of the health budget is spent on primary, 35 per cent on secondary and a maximum of 10 per cent on tertiary care services as against the current levels of 49 per cent, 22 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.

In the private healthcare sector, the facilities available are under utilised, whereas in government sector it lacks the facilities. So, the extra facilities available in the private sector can be utilised to cater to the needs of the public provided a policy is brought in this regard. Government should design special programmes in discussion with professional associations like IMA to optimally utilise the resources,  both in public and private sectors. This will include sharing the resources in private sector, like CT, MRI scan etc. for patient care in public sector.

Public and private sectors should not move as parallel systems, but should complement each other. Public private partnership in health sector should be promoted.

The suggestions include having plans for investment for establishing drug testing laboratories in all the states, and the public sector drugs and vaccine manufacturing units should be strengthened.