Five-star hospitals of corporates have increased, which are witnesses that the disease has engulfed Punjab. Pharma companies have an average daily turnover of Rs 177.53 crore outside Punjab and medicine consumption in Punjab. The private pharma industry has a turnover of Rs 64,801.06 crore in the year 2023-24 alone, which includes medicine exported outside Punjab. A large part of this consumption has been in Punjab.
The pharma business in Punjab has been worth Rs 3,23,764 crore from the year 2017-18 to the year 2023-24. About 50 percent share belongs to Mohali district alone, where medicine and pharma business in the same district has been worth Rs 1,59,548.14 crore. Bathinda is becoming the new health hub of Punjab. According to the World Health Organization, the common people in India spend 70 percent of their expenses for their treatment. There are currently 57,640 registered pharmacists in Punjab while there are 34,276 retail and wholesale licensees. According to the details, the medicine and pharmaceutical business in Punjab was Rs 20,116.90 crore in the year 2017-18 which has increased to Rs 64,801.06 crore in the year 2023-24. Apart from the above, there has been a business of Rs 5699.45 crore on medical cosmetic treatment/hair transplant in Punjab from the year 2017-18 to the year 2023-24 and during this period, patients have spent Rs 1145.72 crore separately on surgical products, tests and X-rays etc. In these seven years, the people of Punjab have spent Rs 1301.31 crore on spectacles and branded spectacles. In these years alone, the turnover of medical services and hospitals has been Rs 15254.95 crore. If we look at the districts, the turnover of medicines in Bathinda district in seven years has been Rs 9045.74 crore, while in Patiala district it has been Rs 19063.17 crore. Similarly, in Mansa district it has been Rs 1076.42 crore and in Hoshiarpur district it has been Rs 3928.32 crore. The central government has opened Jan Aushadhi Kendras based on generic medicines a few years ago and people have been provided treatment facilities under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. In Punjab, it is difficult for the common man to bear the cost of tests, let alone the cost of treatment. The AAP government has opened Aam Aadmi Clinics in which tests are free and medicines too, which has put some ointment on the wounds of the poor people. Black jaundice and cancer are emptying people’s homes. According to the National Health Policy 2017, states should reserve eight percent of the budget for the health sector, while 4.6 percent of Punjab’s budget expenditure has been kept for health in the current financial year.
Expenditure of Rs 718 crore on government procurement
The Punjab government has spent Rs 718.67 crore on the purchase of medicine alone for government health centers from the year 2020-21 to November 2024 (five and a half years). The government had purchased medicine worth Rs 123.53 crore in the current financial year and Rs 191.37 crore in the year 2023-24. The government’s expenditure on the purchase of medicine in the year 2020-21 was Rs 84 crore. Apart from this, the government has spent Rs 402.51 crore since 2019 on buprenorphine etc. pills, which are given in OAT clinics to help drug addicts get rid of their addiction.
VIP treatment expenses from government treasury
The government bears the entire medical expenses of cabinet ministers, MLAs and former MLAs, which has no limit. The expenses of jail inmates are also borne from the treasury, which is unlimited. So far, the medical expenses of the Badal family have been 4.98 crores, the Brar family (Sarainaga) 4.72 crores, the Talwandi family 42.26 lakhs, the family of late Chief Minister Beant Singh 29.60 lakhs and the medical expenses of the current Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann 4 lakhs.
What is the real situation
Punjab, which used to be a leader in many aspects, has today fallen behind states like Tamil, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana etc. The reason for this is not that these states have become richer than Punjab and are providing health services to the states through new technologies every day. When health becomes a political responsibility, it depends on the government in power. How concerned the governments are about their people, it determines what kind of system is or will be.
This situation can be assessed from the point of view that since independence, the Centre has never considered health as a priority issue. Although many health programs are running, a glimpse of this can be seen from the health budget, which has never been even two percent (2%), whereas according to the standards of the World Health Organization, it should be at least six percent. 62 percent of the population of India spends money from their own pockets on health and also takes loans for this purpose. The situation in Punjab is even further ahead where 75% of people spend money from their own pockets for their health matters. In view of this, if we talk about government health institutions and private health institutions, 85 percent go to private health institutions for daily OPD and 45 percent for admission.
There is another aspect of Punjab. Here, the Panchayati Raj system is responsible for primary rural health services. Primary health centers and many district hospitals are run by the Punjab Health System Corporation and some health institutions are run by the Health Services Department. The department of tertiary health services, medical college level services is separate. Division of work is a good thing but lack of coordination does not fulfill that purpose or often becomes a hindrance.
Punjab’s health infrastructure is degraded
Under the national level planning, Punjab has 2900 sub-centers which are now being named as wellness centers. The number of primary health centers is 233 and the number of group health centers is 139. There are 64 district and tehsil level hospitals and four government medical colleges. This seems to be a satisfactory picture but more important than the building are doctors, nurses
, equipment, medicines etc. It is no wonder that most of the institutions, from villages to medical colleges, are not complete in terms of facilities.
It is obvious that public health facilities are getting away from the common people and people are forced to take expensive health facilities from the private sector due to which the burden of debts is bound to increase. In fact, the governments should take steps towards change regarding the current health policy.
