Millions left behind in India’s public health system

Two news reports in the span of 10 days bring home just how grave the crisis in India’s public health care system is.

First was the report from Odisha of a tribal man who had to carry his dead wife’s body on his shoulders for over 10 kilometres because he was denied an ambulance to go back to the village for her final rites.

Then less than a week later came the tragic story from Kanpur of a 12-year-old boy who died after he was denied admission at a government hospital. His father, who was holding the sick child in his arms, was told to go to a children’s hospital despite his obvious poor health. The man’s pleas for transport to carry the boy to the children’s facility were denied.

These are just two instances that we know of because they got media attention. Imagine the thousands, even millions of people across the country, who are unable to access medical treatment on time.

The World Health Organization says the ideal norm is 1 doctor for a population of 1,000. Going by that measure, India falls short by 500,000 doctors as pointed out in a recent IndiaSpend report. Going by these figures, there is one doctor for 1,674 persons, which is worse than Vietnam, Pakistan and Algeria. Even this, many experts believe does not reflect the reality and that the ratio is closer to 1:2,000.

The shortfall is evident not only when it comes to doctors but also support staff like midwives and ASHA workers who form a critical backbone when it comes to rural health care. Under the National Rural Health Mission, more health centres have come up in our villages but there are simply not enough doctors and nurses to man them.

The shortfall gets reflected in the statistics relating to infant and maternal mortality. Despite interventions at various levels, the figures are not improving fast enough. All the plans and policies remain words on paper because there are not enough people on the ground to see them through.

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