New Delhi: The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to fund $500 million to Maharashtra to enhance access to tertiary healthcare and promote quality medical education in Maharashtra. Tertiary healthcare refers to specialised care provided over extended periods for complex, severe, or life-threatening conditions. According to ADB the loan will help the government establish four new medical colleges with specialised tertiary care training centres and hire at least 500 doctors, focusing on under-served districts. The ADB funding may help address Maharashtra’s inadequate government medical infrastructure. As of early 2023, the state had 512 government hospitals with 27,337 beds. Maharashtra’s urban centers, including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, are among India’s most economically productive, and have access to medical services, but the rural areas often lack such facilities. According to the National Health Profile 2023 published by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, Maharashtra has the highest out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure among Indian states, following Uttar Pradesh.
Mio Oka, country director for ADB’s India Resident Mission, and signatory to the funding said “ADB’s decade-long support to India’s health sector development has helped shape this programme to help Maharashtra achieve its vision of providing affordable and accessible tertiary health care to all by 2030, and strengthen a cadre of quality and professional medical practitioners.” This funding is expected to support Maharashtra’s plan to recruit and retain more doctors through performance-based incentives, ADB said, adding that it also aims to foster healthy competition among medical colleges through a performance-management system.