Sen in Calcutta on Thursday. (Anindya Shankar Ray)

Calcutta, Feb. 17: Amartya Sen today said primary healthcare should be more accessible to people and sought the public sector’s support in healthcare.

“I strongly say yes to right to health,” the Noble laureate said after formally announcing the launch of Pratichi (India) Institute in Salt Lake.

The economist, who has been conducting research and development work in the fields of education, health and gender equality for the past 10 years, said Pratichi Trust, which he heads, would organise a meeting with representatives of the Harvard University Global Equity Initiative and Unicef. “From the meeting, ideas on right to universal access to health can emerge,” Sen said.

He said India’s healthcare system depended on private players, some of which “do not do good work” at all times. “Here, the private players are much more. Rural and poor people who are often unaware get treated by private doctors who at times do good work but at times don’t.”

The economist said the public healthcare system was much stronger in Europe, Japan, China and Korea. The Pratichi Trust has been conducting research on primary education and healthcare in Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Sen said Pratichi (India) Institute, which will primarily conduct research on education, healthcare and gender equality, would initially work from Burdwan University’s office in Salt Lake. “We have purchased land in Salt Lake (IA block) with my Nobel Prize money. But the construction of the building cannot be taken up due to fund constraints. We’ll be raising funds for the construction,” Sen said.

Speaking on the state of education in India, Sen said Bangladesh was “way ahead”. “Except for income, Bangladesh’s human development index is higher than (that of) India in most cases,” he said. The reason, according to Sen, is the important role played by women in Bangladesh.

“Even in right to education, there is a lot to do (in India). In case of girls’ education, Bangladesh is way ahead. There, girls’ schooling is higher than that of boys’,” he said.

Sen refuted suggestions that Bengal was lagging behind most states in the field of education. “Bengal is in the middle stage. There are some states ahead of it but it’s also ahead of some,” he said. “Bengal is not (the) worst but there is scope for improvement,” the economist said.

Sen said economic growth was not possible without basics such as food and education.