Dominant dichotomies within the Indian health system: A public health perspective

Pages: 31-36
K. Ranju Anthony (Center for Social Medicine & Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

This paper tries to explore the clearly demarcated and consistent difference of health care delivery systems through India sans any malice to a particular sector (public/private). While drawing on the ‘Bhore Committee Recommendations’ as a foundation for brining in perceived equitability in health care, the paper tries to dwell on India’s virtual flip flops in terms of following a uniform and robust model of healthcare delivery system, despite of an NHS like structure in place. The country’s resilience in managing this humongous public healthcare structure stands exposed through repeated miniscule budgetary outlays for ‘Health’, year after year. The paper chronicles the deep rooted dichotomies within the Indian Health System in the context of ‘Rural-Urban’, ‘Public-Private modelled healthcare delivery systems’ and ‘Preventive-Curative mechanisms’ while hypothesising if the present model of overt dependency on the State for development sectors like ‘public health’ is a prudent enough policy? Or in other words, can India elude itself from (the now) consolidated private healthcare system? And if not, can there be a plausible convergence that accounts for ‘social justice’ within its intricate delivery mechanism?