The National Accounts Statistics provides a comprehensive data on macro-economic parameters for proper evaluation of the performance of an economy. During the last two decades it has been observed, in both developed and developing countries, that the service sector has emerged as the main driver of economic growth, as compared to the primary and secondary sectors. Some economists argued that the output of service sector is overestimated and thus showing such a robust growth rate. One may also argue that this happens due to application of the same techniques for measuring both goods and services. Outputs of the Service sector have some special characteristics of its own, e.g. they are intangible and heterogeneous and thus make distinct differences from that of goods sector outputs. Among the service sectors, estimation of output of health services is more critical because, in addition to intangibility and heterogeneity characteristics, risk and uncertainty factors are always associated with it. Health is an important source of generating human capital. As a result, a different estimation technique is deemed necessary for proper estimation of the quality adjusted output of the service sector, especially for health care services. The present study evaluates and critically examines the existing method of output estimation of the health care services, especially in India, and tries to suggest possible alternatives which can be internationally comparable.
Health, Health output, Quality Adjusted Life Years, GVA, NI, GDP, Human capital
