Finance Commission chief bats for healthcare DFI to improve medical services

Finance Commission Chairman N.K. Singh has recently made a strong case for setting up a health developmental financial institution on the lines of the Rs. 20,000-crore DFI for the infrastructure sector, with an objective to improve healthcare services in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

He also underlined the need for a uniform Health Care Code and an All India Medical and Health Service with the overarching aim of improving healthcare facilities throughout the length and breadth of the country.

He stated that the health sector is in dire need of a health Developmental Financial Institution (DFI). Budget 2021-22 mentioned setting up a DFI to stimulate investments with an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crore. He said, “The need for a health-sector-specific DFI is much needed on the same lines as that of DFIs for other sectors like NABARD (agriculture), NHB (Housing) and TFCI (tourism).”

He emphasised the need for the universalisation of the healthcare insurance system. Universalisation of healthcare insurance and the development of financial institutions as part of that is the ultimate goal that has no exclusion in terms of disease or category of persons, he added.