Avg medical expenditure at pvt hospitals seven-times higher than govt ones: Report

New Delhi: An average household medical expenditure, excluding childbirth, during hospitalisation at private hospitals was seven times more expensive than that of government hospitals in India during July 2017-June 2018, showed a survey by National Statistical Office (NSO) on Saturday.

"In government/public hospitals, the expenditure was about Rs 4,452 (about Rs 4,290 in rural and Rs 4,837 in urban areas). In private hospitals, the expenditure was about Rs 31,845 (about Rs 27,347 in rural and Rs 38,822 in urban areas)," stated NSO's 75th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on Household Social Consumption related to Health during the period July 2017 to June 2018.

The average medical expenditure per hospitalisation case was about Rs 16,676 in rural, Rs 26,475 in urban India, it added. The present survey included data from over 1.13 lakh households. Prior to this, there have been three such surveys carried out in 1995-96, 2004 and 2014. The data showed that government/public hospitals accounted for 42 per cent of the in-patient hospitalisation (excluding childbirth).

Private hospitals accounted for 55 per cent and charitable/trust/NGO-run hospitals accounted for 2.7 per cent of such cases. The report said the average expenditure per hospital childbirth was about Rs 2,404 in rural India, and Rs 3,106 in urban areas for government hospitals. It was about Rs 20,788 in rural and Rs 29,105 in urban for private hospitals, it added.

Surgery was done in about 28 per cent of hospital childbirth in India, as per the report. Interestingly, only about 17 per cent of childbirths in government hospitals were surgery cases, of which over 92 per cent were provided free. In private hospitals, about 55 per cent of childbirths were surgery cases and only 1 per cent was provided free.