The Union cabinet recently approved the National Health Policy, 2017. In a welcome move, the policy includes progressive steps towards universal and affordable access to healthcare services for the underprivileged. In the past, policymakers’ good intentions have been marred by the lack of effective public service delivery mechanisms. An inefficient service delivery mechanism creates inequity in access to healthcare and results in the suppressed uptake of services by the masses as they turn to private alternatives. The National Health Policy states that to increase “accountability and governance”, the government will aim at increasing both horizontal and vertical accountability by providing a greater role for local body participation and encouraging community monitoring. The issue of poor uptake of healthcare programmes by the masses is a result of mismanaged health centres and, to some extent, human psychology. For the underprivileged, a visit to a primary healthcare centre may mean the loss of a day’s wage. While the healthcare policy relies heavily on technical research in pharmaceuticals and equipment, when it comes to service delivery, evidence-based policy has been absent in India. Policymakers need to know what works and what doesn’t. The National Health Policy aims at inclusive partnerships with academic institutions, NGOs, and the healthcare industry. It also speaks of “research collaboration” in healthcare delivery. Spending some resources on research will help the government deliver benefits in an effective way as well as avoid the often-repeated mistakes of earlier mechanisms.

(Live Mint)