Asian Health Care Spending Set For Sharp Rise

Although health care spending is low in South Asia, averaging just $2.40 per capita in 1990, expenditure is set to increase sharply as populations age and the "tiger economies" reap the benefit of the money that has been released, according to a new report from strategic management consultancy company Datamonitor.

As in the developed countries, but on a larger scale, private health care (direct payment since medical insurance, as yet, is virtually unknown) is used by those who can afford it in preference to the public sector. However, this situation is not likely to last, the report notes, since a properly functioning welfare state is seen as a prerequisite for a modern state, both in South Asia and elsewhere. As incomes rise, developing states will be able to finance new welfare structures via taxes.

In China and Vietnam, where the economy is relatively under-developed, growth is likely to be rapid, while in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea growth is likely to be slower, the report notes. Only in private health care will the more developed economies show the greater growth.