Page 175 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

158 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 1

though decreasing in recent years, inequity persists in availability of healthcare

Figure 8: Households falling below poverty
line (BPL) due to health expenditure

Source: Berman et al 2017

5.18 However, recent data show that the distribution of the public subsidy has improved
in favour of the poor, more clearly in maternity and child healthcare. Earlier studies have
argued that public sector-based healthcare has been pro-rich (or aggressive) (Berman et al.
2017). This had resulted in poor households being disproportionately impacted by OOPE
and pushed below the poverty line (Figure 8). In recent times, the percentage of the poorest
utilising prenatal care through public facilities has increased from 19.9 per cent to 24.7
per cent from 2004 to 2018, and there is a similar increase in the percentage of the poor
accessing institutional delivery as well as post-natal care (Figure 9). The poorest utilising
inpatient care and outpatient care has increased from 12.7 per cent to 18.5 per cent and from
15.6 per cent to 18.3 per cent. At the same time, both inpatient and outpatient utilisation
among the richest dropped from 29.2 per cent to 26.4 per cent and 30.1 per cent to 26.9 per
cent, respectively.

Figure 9: Increasing equity in healthcare (2004-18)

Source: Survey computation based on NSSO (2004) & NSSO (2018)