The Hindu : Front Page : India must speed up health spending, says Gates

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Sunday, Jul 26, 2009
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India must speed up health spending, says Gates

New Delhi: Observing that India faced the “toughest” health problems, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Saturday said the country could address the issue if it accelerated spending on healthcare and ensured that funds were utilised in wise and transparent manner.

Accepting the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development given to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation here, he exuded optimism over the country’s ability to overcome health problems like polio and AIDS as it had the “most entrepreneurial technologically sophisticated and innovative societies.”

The software czar, who heads the foundation, said his organisation would help India.

“India bears a massive burden of disease. But in the next five years, it can make more progress on health than it has made in any other five-year-period in its history,” Mr. Gates said after receiving the award from President Pratibha Patil at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present.

The proven ability to innovate and a keen appreciation for the urgency of the situation — two advantages together could trigger major breakthroughs in health, he said. “The phenomenal progress we have seen in India is one of the main reasons for our optimism,” he said, adding the National Rural Health Mission was already spurring innovation at the local level and generating impressive results. The proposed National Urban Health Mission could do the same. — PTI

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