UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice

UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 38)

UPSC Essentials brings to you its initiative for the practice of Mains answer writing. It covers essential topics of static and dynamic parts of the UPSC Civil Services syllabus covered under various GS papers. This answer-writing practice is designed to help you as a value addition to your UPSC CSE Mains. Attempt today’s answer writing on questions related to topics of GS-2 to check your progress.

The Indian healthcare system has triumphed over obstacles that seemed insurmountable. Discuss the outcomes of the National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20.

Discuss the benefits and downsides of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

— Underlining keywords gives you an edge over other candidates and enhances presentation of the answer.

— Using flowcharts/tree-diagram in the answers saves much time and boosts your score. However, it should be used logically and only where it is required.

Way forward/ conclusion

— The ending of the answer should be on a positive note and it should have a forward-looking approach. However, if you feel that an important problem must be highlighted, you may add it in your conclusion. Try not to repeat any point from body or introduction.

— You may use the findings of reports or surveys conducted at national and international levels, quotes etc. in your answers.

Self Evaluation

— It is the most important part of our Mains answer writing practice. UPSC Essentials will provide some guiding points or ideas as a thought process that will help you to evaluate your answers.

QUESTION 1: The Indian healthcare system has triumphed over obstacles that seemed insurmountable. Discuss the outcomes of the National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20.

Introduction:

— Every individual should have access to health care. The government has created and executed several health initiatives and programs in order to provide basic health services to all inhabitants.

— Over time, the Indian health system has overcome apparently insurmountable difficulties that were formerly thought to be hopeless.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20

Expenditure of the government

— Government spending on healthcare has been on the rise. The money spent by the government on healthcare as a percentage of GDP has increased from 1.13 per cent in FY 2015 to 1.35 per cent in FY 2020.

— The government’s share in the total money spent on healthcare in the country went up by a 12.4 percentage points between FY 2015 and FY 2020, increasing from 29 per cent to 41.4 per cent.

Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE)

— The money spent by people from their own pockets on healthcare has been going down. The report shows that 47.1 per cent of the total spending on healthcare in FY2020 came directly out of people’s pockets. But this is actually a 15.5 percentage point drop from 62.6 per cent of the spending coming out-of-pocket in FY 2015.

The majority of government expenditure was done in primary sector

— Out of the total spending by the government on healthcare in FY 2020, 55.9 per cent went to primary care, 29.6 per cent went to secondary care, and 6.4 per cent went to tertiary care. To compare, the government spent 51.3 per cent on primary care, 21.9 per cent on secondary care, and 14 per cent on tertiary care in FY 2015.

Increase in social security expenditure by the government

— There has been a consistent increase in social security expenditure by the government, which increased from 5.7% of the total spending on health in FY 2015 to 9.3% in FY 2020.

Conclusion:

— The National Health Portal intends to provide citizens, students, healthcare professionals, and researchers with a single point of access to authorized health information.

— The National Health Account (NHA) estimates for India 2019-20 is the seventh consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by NHSRC, designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry.

— The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted standard of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

(Source: Healthcare in India has made great progress, but challenges remain by Shailaja Chandra, What the latest National Health Account figures say about India’s healthcare sector by Anonna Dutt)

Points to Ponder

Challenges in the Healthcare Sector