Mumbai. Medicines account for the largest share of healthcare expenditure in India, followed by travel, food and accommodation. This has been said in a report titled 'Components of Out of Pocket Expenditure and Relative Contribution. This report has been jointly prepared by researchers associated with NITI Aayog, Harvard University and the Indian Institute of Population Sciences. It has been said in this report that the annual expenditure on health of people undergoing treatment outside the hospital is much more than the people getting treatment in the hospital.

Over 50,000 patients seen

During this study, the cost of 43,781 patients undergoing treatment while staying in the hospital and 8,914 patients undergoing treatment from outside the hospital was taken into account. These include patients from both rural and urban places. According to the report, 63 percent of the total amount spent on healthcare in India goes out of pocket. At the same time, insurance covers 12 percent of the total amount spent on health in India.

Where? how much ?

According to the report, Rs 21,385 is being spent on each patient undergoing treatment while staying in the hospital and Rs 27,913 for the patient outside the hospital. Apart from this, the largest part of health expenditure is going on medicines. The patient living in the hospital is spending 29.1 percent on medicines and the patient outside the hospital is spending 60 percent. Patients staying in the hospital account for 15.3 percent of their total health expenses on doctor's consultations. At the same time, in the case of a patient living outside the hospital, it is 12.4 percent. In-hospital patients spend 23.6 percent on non-medical items and 14.6 percent for out-of-hospital patients.

Need for regulation

Research has suggested that there is a need to regulate the pharmaceutical and diagnostic testing market by brainstorming the central and state governments. The chief author of the report, S.V. Subramaniam has said in a conversation with Moneycontrol that people going from one place to another in the country for treatment should get basic care from the government to the destination. This will reduce personal expenses on travel. Apart from this, he said that cheap accommodation and food arrangements should be provided around the district hospitals.