India below Sudan on healthcare access

G. S. MUDUR New Delhi: A study has ranked India 145 among 195 countries and lower than China, Bangladesh and Sudan on health care access and quality, measured through their capacities to prevent premature deaths from 32 diseases. The study by an international consortium of researchers has revealed India ' s gains over time but a widening gap between best and worst scores within the country, a finding that public health experts say possibly reflects inequities in access to quality health care. India ' s overall score on the health care access and quality ( HAQ) index increased to 41.2 in 2016 from 24.7 in 1990, but the gap between the highest and lowest scores increased from 23.4 in 1990 to 30.8 in 2016, the study has found. Goa and Kerala had the highest scores, both above 60, implying populations in these states have the best access to quality health care in the country, while Assam and Uttar Pradesh had the least scores, both below 40, meaning people there had the poorest access. The study, published on Wednesday in The Lancet , generated a novel measure called the HAQ index to track gains and gaps in personal health care access and quality in 195 countries between 1990 and 2016. It has assessed countries and states on their capacity to prevent premature deaths from a set of 32 illnesses, including infectious diseases, select cancers, cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney diseases, among others. " The widened gap between best and worst means states doing relatively well about 15 years ago have improved far more than states that were not, " said Panniyamakkal Jeemon, assistant professor at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, and co- author of the study. The Union health ministry has announced a national health protection scheme that will provide poor and vulnerable families hospitalisation cover of up to Rs 5 lakh. TOP 3 BOTTOM 3 BEST AND WORST 1 Goa 2 Kerala 3 Delhi 29 Odisha 30 Uttar Pradesh 31 Assam 12 Bengal