Comparison of Health Systems in Different Countries - Essay Example

Comparison of Health Systems in Different Countries xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Introduction In the current decades, health care has enhanced greatly because of science development. Most of the hospitals in the world have been well equipped with current devices which brings better outcome for patient and eases the doctor’s work. Some hospitals in the world particularly in the developing countries are poorly developed. As the outcome, some of the countries are disassociating themselves in health care from the other countries in the world. A good example of a developed country that has a good quality health system care is Germany. India on the other hand, is a developing country that is second in countries population. UAE is a young country that was started in 1971. With well developed infrastructure such as hospitals, transportation and the standard of living is entirely current. In UAE, the health care is rated central linking the developing and the already developed countries. Are there visible differences in the health care system in middle developed, developing and the developed countries? In order to acquire enhanced health care system, there are many things a country needs to consider. Below is a presentation of different health care system in Germany, India and UAE. Germany According to Bidgood( 2013), modern health care system in Germany rose back in 1883 after the government made health insurance mandatory countrywide. The country is acknowledged as the first nation to have established national social security system to its populace. Currently, Germany runs a multi-payer scheme which has two types of providers, the private health insurance and the statutory health insurance. The German government controls the non-profit associations with the health funds for the public. The health system covers the preventive services, physicians’ services, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, dental care, mental health care, medical aids, prescription drugs, psychotherapy and the sick leave reimbursement (Busse 2010). Where it is impossible to hospitalize the patients, domestic nursing care is provided and also to the children who are below 12, handicapped and who has no one to look after them at home. Since the reform of health care in 2007, every person living in Germany should be covered for at least outpatient medical treatment and hospital. The person has the right to select from the private, statutory, or both in combinations. The public health insurance of Germany also grants partial cover for travelling inside EU. But when the residents travel to non-EU countries, they have to buy travel insurances (Wahner-Roedler 1997). Germany has the highest proportions of elderly people in Europe; currently 20.7% is above 65 years old, thus having a significant sector of aging society in health care system. Providing health services for the elderly, such as long term care is very necessary. As Busse (2010) states, from 1995, a separate insurance scheme covers the long term health care which is compulsory to the residents of Germany. The advantage of a long term care depends on individual needs and limits certain maximum amounts. Currently Germany has a maximum of 592 insurance companies and the statutory health insurance scheme operates through 154 associations. According to Bidgood( 2013),mainly, the ambulatory general practise and high-quality is delivered by physicians in primary care who’s work is in solo practices. In this sector, hospitals role is limited, since they provide a few of out-patient services. Treatment is provided by the doctors or dentists who are acknowledged by the sickness funds. All the recognised medical practioners and the physicians should join an association, which supervise the perfomance of physician and runs their payment.In addition to this limitation, patients have freedom to choose their hospital or physician and can refer themselves straight to a expert (Medical Association 2007). According to German Medical Association(2007), medical studies in Germany takes at least six years. Additionally, the graduated doctors should work in university hospitals and also in a teaching hospital and four months attachments in both surgical and in medical specialities and additional of four months in speciality of their option. After this, an ezamination follows “Zweiter Abschnitt der arztlichen prufung” previously by an examination “Dritter Abschnitt”. After graduation the doctor or physician gets full license which allows the physician to exercise the medical profession. This is after getting a temporary license to exerxise as a doctor or physician. After 18 months of internship the physician gets specific license to practise(Approbation). Depending on the speciality, the training of post graduate might take four to six years (Maier-Lenz 2011).Th German Medical Association has introduced a Regulation Framework for Continuing Medical Education which is compulsory for all practising physicians in Germany. This serves as a model authoritarian process for every state Medical Chambers in Germany( German Medical Association 2007). India The escalating cost of medical service in India may be said to be past the reach of the common citizen. The costs arise from hospital room rent, doctors and medicine fees and so on. Therefore, health insurance comes in handy to provide medical relief to the people given the fact that the India is developing country. It is also important to note that health care spending is one of the major causes of poverty in the country. Indeed, it has been established that India public financing for health issues id less than one per cent of the total health expenditure in the world. Most economists have noted that families spend more money in health expenses out of their own pockets, therefore, placing a huge burden on very poor household. However, in recent times, there is an increase in the number of health insurance in the country (Shetty, 2013). Various private insurance such as Life Insurance Company of India and The General Insurance Company of India have been continued to grow and provide cover for paralytic stroke, cancer, surgery, heart diseases and so on (Chopra 2011). In addition government sponsored health insurance are on the rise. These scheme have contributed significantly in the health sector and over 300 million people were able to gain access to the health insurance by the end of 2010 ( World Bank 2012). With this trend it is expected that more than half of the country will be receiving these scheme s by the end of 2015 (World Bank 2012). Construction and provision of novel health care facilities and the renovation of the already existing in India is booming. As such, there has been an increase in demand for skills and services in the medical equipments, hospital construction, architecture and contracting medical technology. Developing and equipping hospital are one of the key developments that the government has undertaken in order to ensure that every citizen has access to medical facilities. It is one of the major focuses in the five year plan and the government targets to invest up to $ 1 trillion in the infrastructure development (World Bank 2012). National Rural Health Mission has also allocated US$ 10.5 for capacity enhancement and gradation of healthcare facilities (Hospital Build and Infrastructure in India 2011). The country has 0.9 beds per 1 000 population, a number that is below the global average (Sinha 2011). India has continued to experience rapid strides in professionalization in the field of medicine. The number of doctors working in public hospital has continued to grow tremendously and this has resulted to an increase in medical services deliveries mainly in the rural areas. However, a survey done by WHO shows that there is a higher density of qualified health personnel in the urban areas than in the rural regions (Sinha 2011). The burden and range of infectious disease in India are enormous. It is important to note that the administrative roles of health issues are indeed shared between the state and federal governments. Control of outbreaks and diseases is under the Ministry of Health; therefore, the government has a huge role to play in this field. The government has indeed played a role in ensuring that vaccine preventable diseases are given priority especially among children. However, there are less effort in infectious diseases such as zoonoses and focally transmitted diseases. There are no central systems to address such infectious diseases (John et al. 2011). UAE In UAE, health care is one of the priority sectors that have been identified by the government. As such, healthcare in this country has displayed a significant and extraordinary growth in the recent years. There are plans of introducing compulsory health care insurance throughout the country in order to improve the accessible and quality health care in the country. This trend has been observed on various developed countries and its adoption in this country will indeed support accountability and act as a positive point to the private investors. However, this trend is also limited to the local government. For instance, Abu Dhabi authorized health insurance for all the UAE national and expatriates living or working in the country (Castro 2009). Still, Dubai offer insurance to the government employees and their families while the Sharjah government has some undergoing plans that will see the establishment of a health insurance authority. As such, the immediate benefits of these programs will improve accessibility of health care services to those who are least able to afford the services (Stevens 2012). The government is dictated to continue to develop healthcare infrastructure in order to ensure that effective and efficient medical services are offered to the citizens. As middle developed country, UAE has health services that are internationally recognized. The country has 40 hospitals which is a major growth from previous years. In addition, there are many medical facilities in the public and private sectors for various specialized treatment (Stevens 2012). It is important to note that the private sector play a huge role compared to the public sector in the country. The government ensures that all citizens are registered with an out-patient care practice in order to access basic health services. The government endeavors to offer medical services such as diseases control, health treatment and education through qualified medical personnel. As such, the government assists the heath care personnel to work efficiently by providing necessary facilities in the health centers such as provision of internationally recognized medical equipment. . In addition, the government is dedicated to health education in the country (Castro 2009). The government plays a major role in controlling infectious diseases in the country. One way of reducing infectious diseases is by ensuring that anyone travelling to the country must undergo vaccination of diseases such as diphtheria, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, malaria and tetanus. In addition, the government has been able to eradicate some infectious diseases through collaboration between federal and local health authorities and the municipal bodies (WHO 2012). However, there is a need for the government to put more effort in managing the risk of novel emerging and new infectious diseases in order to ensure the past achievement is maintained and protected (Government of Dubai 2012). Conclusion The advancement of science in recent years has indeed improved health care services greatly. Most of hospitals in the world are fully equipped with modern equipment. However, most countries especially the developing countries are struggling to meet the needs of its citizens. Germany, UAE and India represent developed, middle developing and developing countries respectively. These countries have different level in the field of health care services. On health insurance, in Germany, it is controlled by the government while in India the government has started rolling out insurance schemes to its citizens. In UAE the government is in the process of introducing compulsory health insurance to all it nationals. In the above countries, the governments have a significant role to play in ensuring that infectious diseases are controlled in their respective countries. The Germany government support research in the medical fields in order to obtain the much needed control to the infectious diseases. In India, however, the government still has a mile to go control the spread of diseases such fecal transmitted diseases. UAE government has put preventive measure s in place such as ensuring all visitors in the country undergoes vaccination of infectious diseases. Germany and UAE have enough hospital which are well equipped whereas India is struggling as they are few hospitals compared to its population. Similarly, qualification and health education is excellent in Germany and UAE while in India it is still wanting. References Bank, W. 2012, October 11. Government-sponsored health insurance in India: Are you covered. The World Bank , p. 3. Bidgood, E., 2013. Health Care System, Warsaw: Civitas. Busse, R., 2010. The German Health Care System, Berlin : University Medicine Berlin. Castro J 2012 Health care in Dubai http://www.expatforum.com/articles/health/health-care-in-dubai.html. Chopra, P 2011, Health Insurance in India http://doctor.ndtv.com/storypage/ndtv/id/3723/type/feature/Health_Insurance_in_India.html. Government of Dubai 2012 http://www.dha.gov.ae/En/aboutus/pages/strategicgoals.aspx Hospital Build and Infrastructure in India 2011, http://www.hospitalinfra-india.com/ John, J., Dandona, L., & Vinod Sharma, M. K. 2011. Continuing challenge of infectious diseases in India. Lancet , 377: 252–69. Maier-Lenz, H., 2011. Academic Strength in Germany. Applied Clinical Trials, pp. pp50-55. Medical Association of Germany. 2007. The German Health System, Warsaw: The German Medical Association. Shetty, M. 2013, January 26. Health cover set to rise by 25 %. The Times of India , p. 3. Sinha, K. 2011, October 10. India doesn't have even 1 hospital bed per 1000 persons. The Times of India , p. 11. Stevens, I. 2012, July 81. Arab Health. Compulsory health insurance law would have enormous benefits for UAE healthcare . Wahner-Roedler D., Knuth P., Rudolf H., 1997. The German Health Care System, Fiinder: Mayo Clinic. WHO 2012 Country Cooperation Strategy for WHO and the United Arab Emirates 2005–2009 http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccs_are_en.pdf Read More