A grandmother smiles with her new born granddaughter in a regular checkup at a government hospital in Kolkata, India, on March 12, 2019. India's new health scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year will make healthcare financing more equitable, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Health Authority said on Monday. The new scheme has benefited 1.5 million people for which 286.3 million U.S. dollars has been provided. The private sector has stepped in it in a big way and the coverage is expected to rise to 100 million people in the next year, Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Authority, said. (Xinhua/Tumpa Mondal)

India's new health scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year will make healthcare financing more equitable, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Health Authority said on Monday.

The new scheme has benefited 1.5 million people for which 286.3 million U.S. dollars has been provided. The private sector has stepped in it in a big way and the coverage is expected to rise to 100 million people in the next year, Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Authority, said.

At a health insurance conference here, Bhushan said that healthcare expenditure incurred out of pocket leads to 60 million Indians slipping into poverty every year.

Also at the conference, Chandra Khuntia, chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), said that currently in India, 62 percent of the average health expenditure is borne out-of-pocket against the world average of 18 percent.

IRDAI has urged health insurance companies and healthcare providers to adopt ethical practices by emphasizing standardization of rates and procedures.