Multimorbidity and Our Healthcare System

Question: Compare and contrast the UK healthcare system with ONE country? Answer: Each and every country in the world has a healthcare system to provide all round services related to health at an affordable cost. They all are in a continuous struggle to balance the access and quality of the healthcare services with the affordability. In case of high income countries, this challenge demands more research in the health sector, but in case of low income countries such as India this challenge is burdened with many more other challenges such as poverty, shortage of trained health service providers, lack of infrastructure etc. In this essay we will compare and contrast the health care system of the United Kingdom and India. Though the health care system of India has evolved from the British colonial root, the healthcare systems of the two countries are very different from each other both in terms of organization and expenditure. According to the ranking provided by the World Health Organization based on the healthcare system of 191 countries in 2000, the rank of the UK was 15 whereas the rank of India was 112. According to the report the expenditure of the UK in the health sector is around 9.6% of the GDP whereas in case of India it is only about 4.1% of the GDP. The contribution of the public in the overall expenditure related to health care is 81.7% whereas in case of India it is only about 26.2% (Slideshare.net, 2015). The healthcare system of the UK is very organized and based on the model of National Health Service or NHS. This model was introduced in the year 1948. This model is based on the principle of universality i.e. according to the NHS, the health care services should be available to all regardless of their social and economic condition. This NHS model of health care system is fully funded by the government so it is free at the delivery point except for certain services such as optical and dental services. The NHS health services provide a broad range of services free of cost which includes routine health check, long term medical treatment, transplantation of organ surgeries, emergency treatments etc (Peckham, 2014). The health care providers are funded by the government which in turn is funded by the public through the general taxation process. The policies of the NHS system are set and regulated by the Department of Health. It is a government regulated body and is headed by the Secretar y who remains answerable to the parliament. Several governing bodies provide assistance to The Department of Health for its proper functioning and these include- The Care Quality Commission or CQC, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence or NICE and the Health Protection Agency or HPA (Gulland, 2011). Though originated from the British root, the health care system of India is much unorganized. The largest portion of the health care services in India is provided by the private sector as the burden of health care has become too much to bear for the government budget. The services provided by the government are taken care of at the state and the local level. The health system of India includes private hospitals, public hospitals and specialized Ayurvedic hospitals who offer traditional methods of treatment (Glouberman, 2014). Instead of a particular model the health care system of India is governed by many schemes and programmes for various socioeconomic, age group of people. Some of these services include Swastha Bima Yojna, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna etc. only the cost of emergency treatment and hospitalization is covered by the health insurance in India (Pandve and Pandve, 2013). Other care must be paid for upfront. Government funded hospitals generally provide general ba sic care but the infrastructure of these hospitals are very poor and often lack qualified health professionals. Generally people with sound economic condition prefer to go to the private hospitals that offer a much better standard of care but are affordable to only a limited group of people (Singh, 2013). If we compare the health care system of both the countries, it can be clearly seen that, the health care service of the UK is funded by the government through the process of general taxation and for this it is free to all who are permanent residents of the UK. The private health care sector of the UK is much smaller than the public sector and the expenditure is mainly covered by the health insurance. On the other hand, majority of the health care expenses are carried out by the general public. The main player of the Indian health sector is the private companies. This system of health care lacks a single scheme covering entire population. But there are health schemes but they are mostly for a specific section of the population (Gupta, 2015). In the UK, the health care services are under the NHS model which covers entire population as well as entire spectrum of health care services ranging from primary health care to long term and critical care. On the other hand In India there are various government organized programmes and centres but none of them cover the entire population or the entire array of health care services (UK-India partnership offers primary care promise, 2012). In UK, it is a norm to provide coordinated care. The patient first has to go to the GPs, who then can refer him to a specialist for further treatment. But in India, coordination of care is a rare incident. Anyone can directly go to any specialist without any prior reference. In the UK, pharmacies though privately owned, have contracts with the NHS to provide prescribed drugs. In India pharmacies are also private but they generally have no contracts with the government. Though these two countries have huge difference regarding the health care system, mutual coordination can help to achieve the goals of both the countries regarding the health care system because the main aim of the health care system is to provide the people with good health and wellness. To achieve the goal the counties with much higher resource should help the countries that are struggling with their health care services. References: Glouberman, S. (2014). Multimorbidity and our healthcare system. Healthcare Management Forum, 27(2), pp.52-55. Gulland, A. (2011). UK healthcare system is one of most efficient in rich countries. BMJ, 343(aug09 3), pp.d5143-d5143. Gupta, A. (2015). Health and Karma Global: Differences between Healthcare Systems of India and the UK. Healthandkarma.com. Available at: https://www.healthandkarma.com/2014/01/key-differences-between-healthcare.html [Accessed 15 Apr. 2015]. Pandve, H. and Pandve, T. (2013). Primary healthcare system in India: Evolution and challenges. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage, 1(3), p.125. Peckham, S. (2014). Accountability in the UK Healthcare System: An Overview. hcpol, 10(SP), pp.154-162. Singh, C. (2013). Healthcare System in India: A Critical Evaluation. Public Affairs And Governance, 1(1), p.11. Slideshare.net, (2015). Indian Healthcare System An Overiew. [online] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/drdivyahm/indian-healthcare-system-an-overiew. UK-India partnership offers primary care promise. (2012). Springer Healthcare News, 1(1).