Vol. 8, Issue 4 (2019)

Author(s):
Aijaz Ahmed

Abstract:
Medicine is one of the most important contributors of life expectance. Essential medicine is the foremost cause of death and disability in developing countries can be prevented, cured and improved with cost-effective essential medicine. But besides this thousands of people don’t have access to essential medicine. Majority of the people spent their huge share of income on medicine which traps them into a vicious circle of poverty. The huge prescription of medicine is a main cause of treatment delay. Essential medicines save lives and enhance the health of population but only when they are accessible in an inexpensive, reasonable and affordable cost, and when they are use in an appropriate way. Besides certain police measures and programs a huge chunk of population doesn’t have access to essential medicine and this remain the pivotal public health issue in India. Availability of harmless, effective, affordable and quality medicines for all is one of the most important targets of Sustainable Development Goals. For acquiring universal health coverage access to safe, effective and affordable essential medicine is a paramount aspect. The main aim of this paper is to examine the burden of medicine cost and its socio-economic impact on households. This paper is based on secondary date. It is estimated that by improving access to existing essential medicines and vaccines, about 10 million lives per year could be saved. The studies revealed that as much as 25%–70% of overall health expenditure in developing countries is spent on medicines whereas, around 10% of health expenditure in most high-income countries is consumed by medicines. In India medicine consumed higher share of total health expenditure over 43%. Several studies depict that more than three lakh crore rupees that households spent on health, and about 42% of the total out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) went in procurement of medicines. Households spent around 28% of the OOP spending in private hospitals and this constitutes 62.6% of the total OOP health spending in India both government and private source.