Nagpur: The students at National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) got an opportunity to interact with a pioneer of health care system in India. Nachiket Mor, India country director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, visited the premises on Monday to deliver a lecture on 'The promise and challenges of financial inclusion in India.' His visit was part of Manthan 2017, a maiden attempt to create an institutional platform where eminent speakers in fields covering the academia, the political establishment, industry, bureaucracy and the media exchange views on key issues concerning the economy. Mor was the first dignitary to speak as part of the initiative. "National Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the few exchanges in the world which can collect real time margins. Even New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) often shuts down when there is a big shock in the market. 'India class' has become superior than world class. However, the size of participants in the mutual funds and stock markets is tiny. The issue of health care system is grave than financial system," he said. In contrast to the financial sector, in the health sector, back-ends don't exist and there is no clear direction, Mor said. Sixty-five per cent expenditure on health is out of pocket compared to Thailand's 20%. Due to low public health spending, 1 million babies and 40,000 mothers died last year in India. "Indian market on health is roughly six lakh crore rupees. The government is a large provider of this health care, almost one fourth. The drug sector contributes roughly Rs75,000 crore, and Rs65,000 crore is spent by the people. Seventy countries are ahead of us now," he added. He shared that 33% of Kerela's population has blood pressure and hypertension, which is the highest in the country, 18% people have cholesterol while 7% diabetes. "The Indian health systems does not reflect some of the best practises in the sector. If you look at the British health systems, you have to go to a General Practitioner and only if he recommends a hospital, you can go to a hospital. In India, you will immediately go to the nearest big hospital. There is no gatekeeper," he pointed. He also suggested that the government should prepay hospitals or promote compulsory insurance in order to help patients avail good treatment. He said that India's tax base is low. Our poverty is distributed in a way that a very small amount of population controls much of the assets of the economy. With low tax rates, the government's ability to distribute benefits is affected. We need more money in the hands of the government," he said. Award winning journalist P Sainath will be addressing the students on January 18.