IIT Jodhpur study reveals cost of hospitalisation in govt versus private hospitals

This research proved that the government and households put together spent substantially more per hospitalisation in private hospitals than public hospitals.

According to the research analysis, the average total spending per day of hospitalisation in India is Rs 2833 for public hospitals and Rs 6788 for private hospitals. Overall, supply-side public spending contributed to 16 per cent of total spending, demand-side spending through publicly funded health insurance (PFHI) to 16 per cent, cash incentives to 1 per cent and out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) to 67 per cent. OOPE constituted 31 per cent of total spending per episode in public and 86 per cent in private hospitals.

Highlighting the need of the research, Dr Alok Ranjan, assistant professor, School of Liberal Arts, IIT Jodhpur, said, “Provisioning of inpatient care under public facilities is more cost effective compared to the private sector in India. Therefore, there is an urgent need to invest in public health facilities compared to purchasing it from the private sector.”

This comparative study for public and private hospitals was carried out specifically in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh by Dr Alok Ranjan, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Arts, IIT Jodhpur, along with Dr Samir Garg (first author and Executive Director, State Health Resource Centre (SHRC), Chhattisgarh); Narayan Tripathi, Senior Program Coordinator, SHRC; and Kirtti Kumar Bebarta, Program Associate, SHRC.