Review of healthcare in India

Poverty is the real context of India. Threefourths of the population live below or at
subsistence levels. This means 70-90 per cent
of their incomes goes towards food and related
consumption. In such a context social security
support for health, education, housing etc.
becomes critical. Ironically, India has one of
the largest private health sectors in the world
with over 80 per cent of ambulatory care being
supported through out-of-pocket expenses.
The public health services are very
inadequate. The public curative and hospital
services are mostly in the cities where only
25 per cent of the one billion population
reside. Rural areas have mostly preventive and
promotive services like family planning and
immunisation. The private sector has a virtual
monopoly over ambulatory curative services
in both rural and urban areas and over half
of hospital care. Further, a very large
proportion of private providers are not
qualified to provide modern health care
because they are either trained in other
systems of medicine (traditional Indian
systems like ayurveda, unani, siddha, and
homoeopathy) or worse, do not have any
training. These, however, are the providers
from whom the poor are most likely to seek
health care. This adds to the risk faced by the
already impoverished population. The health
care market in India, like in the USA, is based
on a supply-induced demand and keeps
growing geometrically, especially in the
context of new technologies.