Question

“Expenditure on preventive medicine, curative and social medicine helps in building human capital and economic development.”

Do you agree with the given statement ? Give valid argument in support of your answer.

Hint:

Preventive, curative and social medicine keep people healthy. A healthy person supplies labour for a longer period without a break, so health spending builds human capital and helps development.

Answer 1

Step 1: Decide the stand:
We agree with the statement. Spending on health is a major source of human capital formation.

Step 2: List the types of health spending:
The statement names three forms: preventive medicine (like vaccination and clean drinking water), curative medicine (treatment of the sick), and social medicine (like health awareness and public health programmes).

Step 3: Link health spending to human capital:
A healthy person can work for more years and with more energy. So the labour supply is uninterrupted and lasts for a longer period.
A healthy worker also learns faster and is more productive. This raises the quality of the human resource.

Step 4: Link human capital to economic development:
More and better labour raises output of goods and services. Hence such spending leads to human capital formation and adds to the economic development of the country.

Final Answer:
Yes, we agree. Expenditure on preventive, curative and social medicine gives people good health. A healthy person gives uninterrupted labour supply for a longer time, so it builds human capital and helps economic development.