National Health Accounts: Center dismisses claims of discrepancies in National Health Accounts

The central government on Friday denied reports claiming inaccuracies and out of pocket expenditure in the National Health Accounts (NHA), calling it "misleading and false". Terming the news as misleading, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “The news reports suggesting errors in the National Health Accounts (NHA) claim, especially in the out-of-pocket expenditure claim, are misleading and incorrect. NHA provides detailed information on the expenditure made in the health sector of the country.

The ministry further said that the NHA estimate for 2018-19 shows a reduction in Out of Package Expenditure (OOPE) which reflects the government's commitment to reduce the financial burden of the citizens. It is not fair to call its data wrong by an expert in health economics working at a private Indian university.

The ministry pointed out that the main source of information for OOPE was based on NSO data for 2017-18 while the previous estimates were based on 2014. The government has said that both the 71st and 75th rounds of surveys used the same sample design to ensure comparison and selection of houses. The information given by the ministry states that the data for the year 2017-18 was based on a one-year survey while the data for 2014 was for a period of six months.