Thursday 28 April 2016

India: Urgent need to develop efficient healthcare system

Dr. Devendra Kothari
Population and Development Analyst
Forum for Population Action


“Establish regulatory mechanisms to monitor the cost and quality of India’s health system”


India neglected its health care. Despite substantial improvements in some health indicators in the past couple of decades, India contributes disproportionately to the global burden of disease, with health indicators that compare unfavorably with other middle-income countries and India's regional neighbors. Large health disparities between states, between rural and urban populations, and across social classes persist. A large proportion of the population is impoverished because of high out-of-pocket health-care expenditures and suffers the adverse consequences of poor quality of care. Here we make the case not only for more resources but for a radically new architecture for India's health-care system. [1]

Only a radical restructuring of the health-care system that promotes health equity and eliminates impoverishment due to out-of-pocket expenditures will assure health for all Indians by 2022—a fitting way to mark the 75th year of India's independence.


For further reading, see post entitled: India needs efficient healthcare system for overall development, No.  70, dated June 30, 2015




[1] For details see article at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)00955-1/abstract