Health is a basic human right and a globally recognized social aim. Proper medical care is essential. It is a fundamental and basic human right. Procurement of the status of improved quality of life is important.
The health status of an individual generally depends on life expectancy, infant mortality rate, death rate, etc. These indicators of health are based on various factors. They are per capita income, sanitation, safe drinking water, infrastructure, etc. Health and medical care services provided by the government are also a part of it.
Health contributes a major amount to the economic development of a country. Economic development, in turn, tends to upgrade the health of the population in a country.
As investment in health develops the production capacity of the employed population of a country. Thus, the income level tends to grow and it contributes to a decline in poverty.
However, India is one of the major countries which does not contain many life-threatening diseases. But, India’s primary healthcare provisions fall below international benchmarks and even falls below the standards existing in developing countries. Most rural and remote areas have feeble medical facilities and the death rate is high in such areas.
INDIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
The Indian healthcare system has gone through various phases since its independence. From no adequate medical and health infrastructure to battling swine flu and now coronavirus, we can say that the Indian healthcare industry has developed to an extent. But there are many reasons and challenges due to which the Indian health care system is not able to develop in rural areas. Including this, proper health care facilities are missing in the government hospitals as well.
Awareness problems:
How aware are the Indians about important terms regarding their hygiene as well as health?
A study in urban Haryana states that only 11.3% of adult girls have knowledge about reproductive health issues. Knowledge regarding breastfeeding practice affirms in only one-third of the mothers in two studies.
A weak healthcare sector:
Time and again India attempts to make many advances in the expansion of public healthcare services.
However, despite the developments, the distribution of the resources remains uneven. A study states; there is one civil hospital bed for every 614 people in Goa as compared with one bed for 8,789 people in Bihar.
The medical care provided in these hospitals is also not up to the standards. For example, in 2011, a survey conducted by NSSO. It found out that 6 out of every 10 government hospitals in the less developed areas did not offer the service of intensive care units as well as critical care units. One-third of such hospitals had issues like sanitation and drainage, etc.
Unregulated private sector:
Given the quality of Medical care provided in India, The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) numbers show a decrease in the use of public hospitals i.e. government hospitals over the past two decades—only 32% of urban people avail services of such, as compared with 43% in 1995-96 and this number is declining rapidly since lack of facilities.
For instance, a study was conducted in Madhya Pradesh and it was found out that only 11% of the healthcare practitioners had a medical degree. And out of that only 53% of them had completed metrics. Moreover, “the many new hospitals set up by government funding and private sector contribution, have often been a victim corruption practices and failed to offer quality medical services”, the study said.
Absence of medical professionals in healthcare services:
Do we have adequate medical professionals? Do they undergo expert and proper training? Are they properly put into service and is their morale for providing such services is high?
In 2011 a study states that India has only 20 health workers for every 10,000 population.
This workforce is not distributed equitably, with most medical professionals prefer to work in facilities where infrastructure and facilities are high.
Contrary to urban states, the poor and remote areas of Northern and Central India have lower densities of healthcare professionals compared to the Southern and western states.
While the private sector hospitals and institution comprises of most of the healthcare expenses in India, the government-run healthcare facilities are still the only option for the rural and semi-urban parts of the country.
Weak governance and accountability:
In the past decade, the government of India has implemented various new laws to develop the medical care system, but many of these new laws have not been widely taken into consideration.
Many studies have concluded that because of lack of coordination and accountability between the central government and various rural government as well as state government to be a compelling reason for the non-development of healthcare facilities
There are more compelling reasons such as the cost of drugs, lack of health information system, large unregulated private sector, fake medial practitioners, etc to why India needs to develop its healthcare system.
With the rapid increase in various diseases and spreading viruses’ proper healthcare system is a must. Not only the Indian government but the people of India can also contribute to the development of the healthcare system by being aware and safe.
One of the basal needs of good living conditions is quick access to various basic services like health care. If these facilities remain the way they are, half of the population can be set off the map. Death rates will soar by basic diseases such as pneumonia or kidney stones.
Therefore, an integral part of social development is not complete without adequate medical facilities.
