Anveshi Public Panel on Health Care in Contemporary India: Strengths and Pitfalls of Current Strategies

was held on 9th February 2013 Sundarayya Vignana Kendram Main Hall, 5.30 PM

Dr.Binayak Sen (Health care professional and human rights activist) – Chair
Dr. Rajan Shukla (Asst Professor Indian Institute of Public Health, thinker and activist) The structure and experience of Aarogyasri in AP
Mr.Srikanth (CEO Aarogyasri Health Care Trust) The present and future directions for Aarogyasri
Dr. Kameshwari (Practicing Gynecologist, Head, Women’s Unit, Life-Health Reinforcement Group) The case of excessive hysterectomies in Aarogyasri
Dr. Abhay Shukla (Coordinator SATHI Pune, public health professional and health activist) The emerging directions of Universal Access to Health Care in India
Dr. Anant Phadke (Co-convener Jay Aarogya Abhiyan and founder member All India Drug Action Network) Free medicines for all, experiment, experience and implications
Against the backdrop of the abysmal failure of health care and critically low indicators of health, the past decade has seen the emergence of many initiatives to address the situation. The panel discussed three such initiatives. One has been the establishment of Aarogyasri in Andhra Pradesh by the then chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy. This programme has been praised as the solution to India’s health care problems by no less an institution than the World Bank. The second has been the proposal of the High Level Expert Group chaired by Dr. Srinath Reddy, established by the Planning Commission, on providing Universal Access to Health Care in India. This proposal has been widely acclaimed by many as a signal contribution to health care policy. Third there has been an initiative to provide free/cheap medicines for all, first in Tamilnadu, and more recently in a few districts in Rajasthan, which has been a huge success. All these initiatives have wide ranging implications for the future of health care in India.

The lectures by this distinguished panel of speakers explored some of the main pros and cons of each idea and its implementation for the benefit of the audience. They also reflected on the possible avenues of struggle for health care, which is emerging as an agenda for politics today.