Sri Lanka jumps rank on healthcare index

• Beats India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS) published in the Lancet, Sri Lanka has improved its performance in terms of access to healthcare, maintaining its status in the South Asian region. Ranked 73, the country has improved its performance scoring 76.8 in the 2015 GBDS index compared to 66.3 in 1990, recording an increase of 10.5 in the score. The index records a narrowing of the gap in access to health care over the last 25 years, reflecting on welfare measures taken by successive governments to improve standards. Although the country has performed well in communicable diseases over the years, non-communicable diseases like diabetes, rheumatic heart diseases, and chronic kidney diseases, and the lack of access to proper means to treat them were causes of concern.

The study, which assess performance for 195 countries from 1990-2015 based on death rates, is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It focuses on more than 30 diseases for which better access to medical care could have been achieved. 

The countries that rank above India have a wide variation in healthcare access and quality. In comparison with other countries, China is far ahead ranking at 82, with a score of 74 on the index while Brazil and Bangladesh have scored 65 and 52, respectively. 

However, India is ranked at 154, below Sri Lanka and above Pakistan, which has scored 43. This report also targets the growing inequality between countries.