Direct costs of managing Parkinson's disease in india: Concerns in a developing country

Abstract: Medicines and surgical interventions improve thequality of life of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Theseare still expensive options and are unaffordable to thoseliving in developing countries. Managing PD in Indians whohave a low annual gross national income (GNI; US$ 450–540) and for whom only a few (3%) have health insuranceis a challenge. We interviewed 175 consecutive PD patientsregarding health insurance and money spent for treatment.The annual income of nearly half the patients was less thanrupees 50,000 (US$ 1,148.63). Patients in this study spendnearly 16% to 41.7% of the average Indian GNI to buymedicines. Costs of treating PD in India are lower thanthose in developed nations but are still out of reach for mostIndian patients. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society Key words: cost; insurance; elderly; Parkinson’s disease;India Neurodegenerative diseases cause significant financialburden on patients living in developing countries. Animproved life expectancy among Indians has increasedthe number of elderly