Health insurance coverage should be vastly expanded in India : Venkaiah

Chennai: Expressing concern over miniscule penetration of health insurance at the individual level, Vice President M Venkata Naidu on Sunday said it should be vastly expanded in the country.

Inaugurating the Rainbow Children's hospital here, he said a major issue of concern in the health sector was the miniscule penetration of health insurance at the individual level with just two per cent having individual policies and another three per cent having corporate policies.

''As a result, almost three-fourths of the total health expenditure is borne by the households as out-of-pocket expenditure'', he said. Although some of the State Governments have launched special health insurance packages for the BPL families, there was a need to vastly expand the health insurance coverage of the population in the country, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said. He said in view of the huge challenge of meeting the basic healthcare needs of mothers and children, India needs many more specialized, pediatric care doctors and nursing professionals.